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Orange County has withdrawn to the most restrictive levels of the state’s business reopening system as the second coronavirus wave is hitting the county and rapidly sending more people to hospital beds.
The OC now sits in the Purple Tier, the most restrictive level.
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This means the end of indoor operations in restaurants, gyms, places of worship and movie theaters, while the rest of the businesses have to limit indoor operations. Most college classes – except laboratory classes – will also be taken back to video conferences.
Primary, junior high and high schools that have already reopened will not be affected by OC’s return to the Purple Tier.
“We are seeing a community spread across the state of California,” he told a news conference on Monday.
State public health officials removed a two-week waiting period before the counties advance or fall into the system due to the rapid spread of virus cases across the state.
All Southern California counties now sit in the Purple Tier.
Matters are rising so fast, Newsom said they are entertaining the idea of a possible statewide curfew.
“The notion of a curfew … we’re also assuming that,” Newsome said.
He said officials studying curfew effects from France, Germany and Saudi Arabia.
“What does the actual curfew mean in terms of certain types of industries and business sectors,” he said. “We really want to bear the data.”
Secretary of the State Health and Human Services Agency, Drs. Mark Cheek, said it may be months before the current case stabilizes the spikes.
At Monday’s news conference, Gali said, “Hopefully, by the end of December, we are seeing a decrease in case rates and we can move into the tier system.”
He said that today’s spike in cases means that the number of hospitalized people is increasing.
“Tracing the data for several months, shows that today’s cases will expire in hospitals in two to three weeks,” said Gali, adding that about 14% of newly infected people will end up in hospital beds.
Meanwhile, Orange County’s increased case rates have increased. Steady growth in hospitals.
As of Monday, 257 people were hospitalized, including 85 in intensive care units.
The number of hospitals is the highest since the beginning of September, when OC was still reeling from summer case spikes.
State public health officials have warned that new cases across the state are rising faster than the summer wave that hospitalized more than 700 people in Orange County in July.
Acting State Health Officer Dr. “The number of new cases per day has increased dramatically since the beginning of November,” Erica Pan said at Friday’s news conference.
“That’s about a 20 percent faster rate of growth and the fastest rate of growth we’ve seen in California,” he said, compared to the summer spike.
And the second wave could be worse than the first, he said.
“We saw a peak in July and with this rapid rate, our concern, the peak may be even higher,” Pan said.
Local epidemiologists also share paan’s concerns.
Since the epidemic started in March, the virus has killed 1,526 people out of 65,605 cases so far, County Health Care Agency.
In Orange County, the flu has already killed people on average about three times.
For reference, Orange County has caused approximately 20,000 deaths in a year since 2016, including 543 annual flu deaths. State health data.
According to the same statistics, cancer kills more than 4,600 people, heart disease kills more than 2,800, more than 1,400 die from Alzheimer’s disease and stroke kills more than 1,300 people.
Gali has urged people to reconsider the big thank you memorandum this year.
“Many of us have COVID fatigue,” Gali said at the Friday news conference. “The safest gatherings remain the same as those with members of your household.”
State public health officials on Friday issued guidelines for a Thanksgiving dinner asking for more than three households to attend dinner, wear masks as much as possible, and try to eat outside.
Officials are also insisting Two-week travel quarantine For those going to California.
“Take a trip, having others travel to your home could potentially increase transmission,” Glee said. “This is not a restriction, it is an advice.”
Authorities are asking people not to travel to the state or even other counties as the cases of the virus are increasing.
“We are encouraging Californians to stay closer to home. To avoid apparently non-essential travel to other states, other countries and the entire state, ”said Gali.
The state’s public health officials were not considering issuing a stay order until Friday.
“We are not looking at a statewide stay at home today. We know that many California people are tired and tired, ”Gali said on Friday.
But that can change.
“This is a quick, fast-paced situation and we will do whatever it takes to protect the health of the California population.”
Here’s the latest on county county virus numbers from county data:
Transition | Hospital and Deaths | City-by-city data | Demography
Spencer Custodio is a Voice of OC staff reporter. You can reach him [email protected] Follow her on twitter @SpencerCustodio