SACRAMENTO, California (AP) – California on Monday lifted local home orders across the state in response to improving coronavirus conditions, bringing the state back into a system of provincial restrictions.
The order was in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, covering the majority of the state’s provinces.
The change allows restaurants and churches to resume extracurricular activities and reopen hair and nail salons in many areas, although local officials prefer to impose stricter rules. The state also lifts a curfew from 22:00 to 05:00.
‘Together we have changed our activities because we know that our short-term returns would lead to longer-term profits. COVID-19 is still here and still deadly, so our work is not over, but it is important to recognize that our joint action has saved lives and that we are making a critical turn, “said Dr. Tomas Aragon, the Director of Public Health, in ‘statement.
Government Gavin Newsom is expected to address the public later. Public officials in some of California’s major cities and counties have indicated they may lift local restrictions soon.
“We will move forward with some limited reopening, including outdoor dining and personal services,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a tweet.
Orange County plans to lift some restrictions as well, said Jessica Good, a spokeswoman for the county’s health agency. In Los Angeles County, where ten million people live, Republican Superintendent Kathryn Barger expressed support for the opening of dining, personal care services and other industries, saying the state should balance public health with a “devastating social, emotional and economic” consequences of this virus. ” The public health officials in Los Angeles are expected to hold an information session later Monday.
The state’s decision comes amid improving trends in California’s infection rates, hospitalizations and the capacity of the intensive care unit as well as vaccinations.
Newsom, a Democrat, instituted the stay-at-home order in December as coronavirus cases worsened.
Under the system, a region with more provinces would have to close most businesses and order people to stay at home if the ICU capacity fell below 15%. A Northern California region with 11 counties was never under command and the Greater Sacramento region left the command last week. The state makes its decisions based on four-week projections showing ICU capacity improving, but officials did not release the data behind the forecasts.
During the weekend, the ICU capacity in the San Francisco Bay Area rose to 23%, while the San Joaquin Valley agricultural area increased to 1.3%, which was above zero for the first time. The enormous Southern California region, the most populous, remains at no ICU capacity.
Republicans said Newsom relaxed the rules in response to political pressure and the threat of repeal. Republican organizers have until mid-March to collect 1.5 million signatures to recall Newsom, which is halfway through its first term.
“The governor’s decisions have never been based on science. This is not an attempt to help working Californians reopen our state, but an attempt to counter the Recall Movement. It’s sad and pathetic, “tweeted Jessica Millan Patterson, chairwoman of the Republican Party in California.
The criticism was not limited to Newsom’s partisan political opponents.
Santa Clara County CEO Jeff Smith said his country has no plans to impose stricter rules, but criticizes the state’s decision.
“Essentially, it’s a political decision that endangers people’s lives, especially in Southern California,” he told The Mercury News.
Democratic Assemblywoman Laura Friedman of Glendale said state lawmakers did not feel like changing rules.
“If you think state legislators were blinded by and confused about the shifting and confusing public health guidelines, you would be correct,” she tweeted. “If you think we in Sacramento were quiet about it, you would be wrong.”
Early last year, the state developed a system of color-coded levels that determines the level of restrictions on businesses and individuals based on virus conditions in each of the 58 counties in California.
Most counties will now return to the most limited purple level, allowing outdoor dining, hair and nail salons open, and outdoor church services. Bars serving drinks only cannot be open.
The province-by-province system uses different criteria to determine the risk of community transfer and applies a color code – purple, red, orange or yellow – that matches the widespread, substantial, moderate and minimal, respectively.
According to the weekend, the state’s public health website had more than 3.1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 36,790 deaths.
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Antczak reports from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists Janie Har in San Francisco and Amy Taxin in Orange County contributed.