Effective today, regions where ICU capacity falls below 15 percent will be subject to a three-week stay-at-home order; regions include the Bay Area, Northern California, Greater Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.
Under current trends, the State projects that the Bay Area will fall below the 15 percent threshold by mid- to late December and reach ICU capacity by early January. The other four regions are expected to fall below the threshold within the next few days.
Once under a stay-at-home order, schools that have received waivers, critical infrastructure, retail at 20 percent capacity and restaurants with take-out and delivery may remain open. Businesses that will be temporarily closed include bars, wineries, personal services, hair salons and barbershops.
The move today comes in an effort to protect against an anticipated rise of COVID-19 cases following the Thanksgiving weekend.
This is a temporary moment — this is not a permanent state,” Newsom said. “There is light at the end of the tunnel. We are a few months away from truly seeing real progress with the vaccine … we do not anticipate having to do this once again but we really all need to step up.”