CA Pulls 'Emergency Brake,' Considers Curfew In Coronavirus Surge

CALIFORNIA — Golden State officials "sounded the alarm" Monday with the announcement that nearly every California county had moved back into the most restrictive coronavirus reopening tier. Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was also considering a statewide curfew as the number of COVID-19 cases reported over the last 10 days had doubled — the largest acceleration of new cases the state has seen thus far.

"We are now moving backward, not forward," Newsom said at an afternoon news conference.

California is now officially in the midst of its steepest case increase yet, prompting officials to impose and consider a number of tighter restrictions to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus as cooling temperatures continue to push gatherings indoors.

Newsom announced that a staggering 40 counties were moving backward on the state's COVID-19 risk assessing blueprint Monday, rolling back reopening plans statewide. And 41 counties now sit in the purple tier and are the state's tightest restrictions.

"Every age group, every demographic, racial, ethnic, in every part of the state we are seeing case rates increase," Newsom said. "We are seeing community spread broadly."

While announcements for which counties are able to move through the tiers are typically made on Tuesdays, state health officials revised that plan Monday. Now, tier assignments may be altered on any day of the week and more than once a week. And some may move multiple tiers backward.

“Just three weeks ago, we were talking about how we only had nine counties in purple," said Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s health secretary.

Newsom further announced changes in the way counties will be reassigned to new tiers. Before, counties could only move backward on the blueprint if they failed to keep cases down for two consecutive weeks. Now, a county can be reassigned after just one week of elevated numbers.

"I anticipate that by Friday, in fact, Dr. Ghaly will be back up making a presentation on the prospect of even more tier restrictions based on the conditions that exist today," Newsom said.

Counties will also be forced to implement the changes of new tier assignments within 24 hours, instead of 72 hours.

#COVID19 update:

- Average daily tests: 164,345

- Average test positivity rate: 4.6%

- Daily case average: 8,198

- Hospitalizations: 48% increase over last 2 weeks

- ICU: 39% increase over last 2 weeks
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) November 16, 2020

"Counties that move back must make industry or sectoral changes urgently," Newsom said.

The state announced that 28 counties would be moving back into the purple tier, nine counties were moving into the red tier and two counties were moving into the orange tier starting Tuesday.

"The spread of COVID-19, if left unchecked, could quickly overwhelm our health care system and lead to catastrophic outcomes," Newsom said Monday in a statement. "That is why we are pulling an emergency brake in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy."

Newsom added that the state has been "preparing precisely for this moment," announcing that California had prepared 11 emergency "surge facilities" that can be activated to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed in particularly hard-hit areas.

He said the first facility will be activated in Imperial County.

And while Newsom did not announce any plans for another stay-at-home order, he did talk about the potential of imposing a statewide curfew. He did not specify whether the curfew would be mandatory or an advisory.

"We also are considering — full disclosure — a bit of a preview, the notion of a curfew," Newsom said at a Monday afternoon news conference. "Now before you jump in terms of your mindset on whether that's a good idea or bad idea, we are assessing that as well."

Newsom said he was looking into three studies from France, Germany and Saudi Arabia that had analyzed the efficacy of curfews.

"We know in the United States there are two states in particular that have statewide curfews of interest at least, and that's Massachusetts ... [and] the state of Virginia. There are a lot of cities large and small all across the country that also are promoting certain kinds of curfews," Newsom said. "All of that's being assessed, we want to socialize that, we have a lot of questions about what that looks like and what that doesn't look like, who does it impact ...," Newsom continued. "What does a real curfew mean in terms of certain kinds of industry and business activities?"

Los Angeles County officials were also discussing a potential curfew Monday as the county has remained suspended in the dreaded purple tier since the Blueprint for a Safer Economy was introduced by the state nearly two months ago.

LA officials were considering a business curfew to stop people from flocking to restaurants and bars to gathering late in the evening for cocktails.

“This significant change in transmission not just in a couple of counties, not just in one or two regions across the state, but statewide," Ghaly said, adding that the changes implemented by state and local officials Monday were "absolutely essential for us to immediately take control of and manage so that we get out of this difficult period."

READ MORE: Alarming Coronavirus Spike Prompts LA County To Consider Curfews

The set of new announcements also delivered some grim news to young athletes as the return to youth sports would be paused yet again amid the massive spike in cases, Newsom said Monday.

CIF Statement Regarding Education-Based Athletics pic.twitter.com/LC724df6iG
— CIF State (@CIFState) November 16, 2020

By the numbers:

The last time the state saw a case increase this alarming was during the summer months. From June 15 to June 21, the state saw a one week increase of 39.2 percent of new cases. The first week of November, Newsom said, saw a 51.3 percent increase.

Last week, California eclipsed an astounding 1 million coronavirus cases; and just over the weekend, the Golden State saw an alarming rate of rising coronavirus cases. On Saturday alone there were 10,968 new cases recorded. The seven-day positivity rate was 4.6 percent Monday, up from a much lower 2.6 percent on Oct. 13.

By noon on Monday, there had already been 10 COVID-19-related deaths reported to the state, according to California's coronavirus data tracker. The state has recorded at least 18,200 deaths related to COVID-19.

Hospitalizations were also on the rise, with a 48 percent increase in two weeks and a 38.8 percent increase in ICU patients over the last 14 days. On Monday, just 5 percent of hospital patients were admitted for COVID-19, but Newsom said the state was preparing for a surge in patients with the implementation of the 11 "surge" overflow sites.

READ MORE: California Calls For Arriving Travelers To Quarantine For 2 Weeks

Newsom also recently came under fire for attending a dinner party for his friend's 50th birthday in Napa Valley, mixing with several couples from different household. The governor apologized Monday, admitting that his behavior contradicted safety guidelines that he has been promoting for months.

"I want to apologize to you because I need to preach and practice, not just preach and not practice..." Newsom said. "...We’re all human. We all fall short sometimes."

And as the Thanksgiving holiday nears, the state imposed a travel advisory last week to ultimately deter Californians from mixing with different communities or gathering with others outside the state.

Just after the state recorded the milestone of 1 million COVID-19 cases, the state joined Oregon and Washington to ask travelers to self-quarantine for 14 days after crossing state borders for nonessential trips.

"This isn't a ban, it isn't a restriction — it's an advisory," Ghaly said at a Friday news briefing. "We're encouraging Californians to stay close to home, to avoid nonessential travel to other states, other countries and, frankly, across the state if that's avoidable."

MORE COVERAGE: CA Student Athletes Benched Amid Coronavirus Surge

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