#Roommates, as California continues to be continuously overwhelmed with cases of COVID-19, a new state order has been put in place to combat the spread of the virus. It has just been announced that Southern California’s initial stay-at-home order has officially been extended until mid-January—and local hospitals are at their maximum capacity.
@Deadline reports, Southern California has now extended its regional stay-at-home order “until the ICU projections are above or equal to 15%,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly. Initially announced by California Governor Gavin Newsom earlier this month, the order was set to expire in a few days—but that order will now continue through at least January 16th. During the next three weeks, the state will take a new look at the decision and the relevant virus data daily to determine if restrictions need to be extended yet again. If the numbers turn around, the stay-at-home order could be lifted early, but with current numbers rising, that may not be the case.
Currently, as hospitals are diverting care and patients are placed in facility hallways, L.A. County and the rest of Southern California is at 0% ICU capacity. Although public health officials in L.A. County jumped ahead of the state on December 27th and extended the region’s own stay-at-home order indefinitely, hospitals in the area are down to zero ICU beds and running out of space and staff.
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“We brace to see what levels of transmissions we expect to see coming out of these celebrations,” the HHS chief wearily noted of an expected post-Christmas surge coming in the next few weeks in this “difficult time.” Dr. Ghaly pushed forward to New Year’s Eve too, and tried over and over to warn Californians to resist the desire to see 2021 in with traditional celebrations. “Things that were a month ago or two months ago a low-risk activity today are really high risks because of the level of COVID that’s circulating in our communities,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is urging the film and TV industry to consider pausing production for a few weeks during the ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases throughout the county. “Although music, TV and film productions are allowed to operate,” the health department said, “we ask you to strongly consider pausing work for a few weeks during this catastrophic surge in COVID cases. Identify and delay higher risk activities, and focus on lower-risk work for now, if at all possible.”
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