Most of California to begin harsh lockdown as coronavirus ICU beds fill up

State was the first in the nation to impose mass stay-at-home policies, and measures are its harshest since early days of pandemic

Most of California’s nearly 40 million people are now back under sweeping Covid stay-at-home orders as rapidly dwindling intensive care beds triggered a fresh round of lockdowns and business closures under a new state plan.

Population centers like Southern California, which includes Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as the state’s Central Valley, have seen their coronavirus ICU capacity dip below 15 percent in recent days, according to the California Department of Health. This automatically starts a renewed round of shutdowns under a plan from the governor’s office announced earlier this week.

Five counties in the San Francisco Bay Area also voluntarily implemented the closure orders, which include a mask mandate, as well as halting indoor dining, closing nonessential retail settings like movie theatres, and banning gatherings with people outside a single household.

The new restrictions take effect on Sunday and last through Christmas.

“We are at a point where surging cases and hospitalisations are not letting up,” Dr. Salvador Sandoval, public health officer for the Central Valley city of Merced, told the Associated Press. “I can’t emphasise this enough – everyone must take personal steps to protect themselves and protect others.”

California has clocked 1.3 million total cases since the pandemic started, and shattered yet another record on Friday, with 25,068 new cases in a single day.

“If we don’t act now our hospital system will be overwhelmed,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday, when he announced the new emergency measures. “If we don’t act now we’ll continue to see our death rate climb.”

The state was the first in the nation to impose mass stay-at-home policies, and the measures are its harshest since the early days of the pandemic.