COVID-19: California Governor Orders Indoor Business Closures Amid Virus Spike
California residents will have to wait a while before they can go to their favorite restaurant as Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday that the state would have to do indoor business closures.
Some sectors were required to close as the number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) hospitalizations continue to rise. The business closure covered restaurants, wineries, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos, museums, and card rooms in California.
Indoor business closures are also expected of thirty California counties' fitness centers, places of worship, offices for non-critical sectors, personal care services, hair salons, barbershops, and malls.
The counties included in the list are Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Orange, San Diego, and Fresno. These have been on a monitoring list for three days straight and make up about 80% of the California population, said a report from NPR.
The list details counties that are having a hard time containing the spread of the virus. USA Today said only 23 counties were on the list a week ago.
Four counties were added to the list today, and Newsom expects two more will be added in the coming days.
California records more than 330,000 COVID-19 cases and has seen more than 7,000 deaths. There is also an increasing number of patients in intensive care.
The average daily new cases in the state hit over 8,000 for the past week, and 23 people have died due to the virus in the past 24 hours.
Closures will Stay Until Standards are met
The business closures will stay in place until the counties meet standards set by the state.
Newsom said it is important to make these decisions based on the data the state has and said the recent trend related to the virus had created "caution and concern."
"We're moving back into a modification mode of our original stay-at-home order, but doing so utilizing what is commonly referred to as a 'dimmer switch,' not an 'on and off switch,' " Newsom said.
In a BBC report, the governor said the virus is not "going away anytime soon."
Newsom said if people were still connected to some notion that the virus will go away when it gets warm or take summer months or weekends off, "this virus has done neither."
The measures reverse the easing of the state's lockdown in May. It also reversed the decision to reopen restaurants, bars, and gyms in counties that met the safety guidelines.
Testing is not Enough
The 'dimmer switch' comes after California let counties to reopen.
At the time, nearly one in three counties allowed to reopen did not have enough contact tracers. More than 20% of them were not able to conduct enough coronavirus tests daily.
On Monday, Newsom said he knew that California's testing is "inadequate" right now to meet the needs of the state. He said the lack of widespread testing is "unacceptable."
He added that the state managed to control the virus's spread after the first sweeping stay-at-home orders.
He said California knocked down the virus's growth at the start, and he believes the state can do it again. "There is no doubt in my mind," he said.
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