California Implements “Regional Stay at Home” Order

California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced a new “Regional Stay at Home” order that will take effect when a region's intensive care unit capacity falls below 15 percent, his office announced on Thursday. State health officials are tracking the state by five regions: Northern California, Bay Area, Greater Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

No regions currently meet this threshold, but some are projected to within the next week. Residents are required to stay at home as much as possible and minimize mixing to reduce unnecessary exposure. They will still be permitted like go to the doctor, buy groceries, pick up takeout, go on a hike or worship outdoors. K-12 schools that are already open can remain open and retailers can operate indoors at no more than 20 percent capacity to reduce exposure risk.

Should the “Regional Stay at Home” order be triggered, all operations in the following sectors must be closed: Indoor and outdoor playgrounds; indoor recreational facilities; hair salons and barbershops; personal care services; museums, zoos and aquariums; movie theaters; wineries, bars, breweries and distilleries; family entertainment centers; cardrooms and satellite wagering; limited services; live audience sports; and amusement parks.

Outdoor recreational facilities, retail and shopping centers, hotels and lodging, restaurants, places of worship, offices and entertainment production will have modified rules, including 100 percent masking and physical distancing.

The five regions include:

  • Northern California: Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity
  • Bay Area: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma
  • Greater Sacramento: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba
  • San Joaquin Valley: Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne
  • Southern California: Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura

The order takes place at 12:59 p.m. on Saturday, December 5. Regions will have 24 hours to implement the “Stay at Home” order once hitting the ICU threshold.

Regions will remain in the “Stay at Home” order status for at least three weeks once triggered. Counties are eligible to come off the list after three weeks if their hospital ICU capacity projected four weeks out reaches 15 percent. Counties will return to the “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” tier (determined by their case rate and test positivity) after they are eligible to exit the “Regional Stay at Home” order.

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