The Curve Goes Up Once Again
By: Vanessa Fabian
Californians will once again find themselves under a new overnight curfew and a stay-at-home order after a dramatic surge of COVID-19 cases. On Nov. 19 2020 Gov. Newsom announced a mandatory overnight stay-at-home order that would ban any non-essential outings such as family gatherings or parties between 10:00 pm and 5:00 am from Nov. 21 2020 through Dec. 21 2020. This curfew was implemented just after the governor had recently taken the decision to reopen much of the state. Newsome states:
“The virus is spreading at a pace we haven’t seen since the start of this pandemic and the next several days and weeks will be critical to stop the surge. We are sounding the alarm […]It is crucial that we act to decrease transmission and slow hospitalizations before the death count surges. We’ve done it before and we must do it again.”
The restrictions imposed by Newsom will be like those that were issued in March when the pandemic began to have a its biggest surge in the country. This restriction only lasted until May 2020 and that is when Newsom imposed the state’s reopening plan as mentioned earlier. Some of the regulations included in the curfew were limited to buying groceries, restaurant takeout orders and essential healthcare visits. The curfew was established during night hours as this is when most individuals would have gatherings according to state officials.
After COVID-19 cases continued to spike and the curfew did not seem to have the positive results that were expected Gov. Newsom decided to impose a new regulation. On Dec. 6 2020, a stay-at-home order would take effect if a region's hospital intensive care unit capacity dropped below 15%. This order was estimated to last for at least three weeks, but it could be extended to the end of the year. The regulations included in this new stay-at-home order are travel restrictions and retail capacity reduced to 20%, outdoor dining, bars, playgrounds, zoos, museums, wineries and salons would have the order to close.
The new state shut-down is expected to reduce COVID-19 cases, after the number of confirmed cases continues to have a huge increase and reached 31,782 on Dec. 9 2020. While the stay-at-home order is now in full effect with only a 12% capacity at most hospitals, the country is waiting for a vaccine promised since the beginning of the pandemic. The Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine has now been approved by the FDA and the distribution of the vaccine will begin soon in the United States. The first individuals in line to receive this vaccine in the country will be the nation’s 21 million health care workers along with three million elderly people living in nursing homes. It is expected that by June of 2021 the vaccine will be available to everyone who is willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.