Gov. Gavin Newsom is advising Californians that the state could issue a wider stay-at-home order, one that would affect retailers and other businesses, as Covid-19 cases continue to surge.
Fifty-one of the state’s 58 counties would be affected because they are in the strictest tier of the four-tier coronavirus risk system, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Those counties are home to 99 percent of the state’s population. Newsom did not definitively say that all 51 counties in the purple tier would be subject to such stay-at-home order, and it’s possible that only those counties with the most cases and most severe spread would be subject to the measure.
The state also did not provide details about the potential order. California last imposed a stay-at-home order in March, during the first wave of coronavirus cases.
L.A. County put in place its own stay-at-home order last week in the leadup to the Thanksgiving holiday. The order is in effect through Dec. 21. Outdoor dining is suspended and the order prohibits all public and private gatherings except for outdoor religious gatherings and outdoor political protests.
L.A. County’s average new Covid cases per day on a rolling seven-day basis is now above 4,000. On Sunday there were 2,316 new hospitalizations, breaking a previous record of 2,232 set in July. [LAT] — Dennis Lynch