From:
slider@anashram.com
California has extended its shelter-in-place order to cover the entire
state, the governor announced on Thursday, in a dramatic escalation of
efforts to battle the coronavirus outbreak.
The order, which will go into force on Thursday evening, requires the
state’s nearly 40 million residents to remain indoors and limit outdoor movement to what is “absolutely essential”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/19/coronavirus-california-more-than-half-gavin-newsom
The move came as Newsom on Thursday estimated that 25.5 million people – roughly 56% of California’s population – were likely to become infected with the coronavirus, an alarming projection offered by the governor in a letter to Donald Trump. Newsom called on the president to deploy a navy hospital ship, the USNS Mercy, and station it in the port of Los Angeles
to help the giant metro area deal with a fast-moving health crisis.
“In the last 24 hours, we had 126 new Covid-19 cases, a 21% increase. In
some parts of our state, the case rate is doubling every four days,”
Newsom wrote, adding that evidence of community transmission had been
found in at least 23 counties.
“We project that roughly 56% of our population – 25.5 million people – will be infected with the virus over an eight-week period,” he said.
At a press conference on Thursday evening, Newsom acknowledged the
severity of the order and urged Californians to band together. “This is
not a permanent state, this is a moment in time,” he said.
“We will meet this moment together and we will look back at these kinds of decisions as pivotal decisions. If we will be criticized in this moment
let us be criticized for taking this moment seriously, let us be
criticized for going full-force and meeting this virus head on.”
At the press conference, the governor also reiterated the alarming
projection that roughly 56% percent of the state’s population could become infected. The governor had previously said that the state might need about 20,000 hospital beds, a shortage he hopes to address by renting two
hospitals at each end of the state and docking a navy hospital ship near
Los Angeles to help meet demand.
“If we meet this moment, we can truly bend the curve to reduce the need to have to go out and to cobble all those assets together,” he said on
Thursday.
Newsom called on residents to self-isolate, adding: “I don’t believe the people of California need to be told by law enforcement it’s appropriate
to home-isolate – go about the essential patterns of life, but do so by socially distancing yourselves from others and using common sense.”
The state expected a hospitalization rate of 20%, which is above the
existing capacity of the system, he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Los Angeles ordered residents to stay indoors and
limit all outdoor movement beyond what is “absolutely essential”. Workers in healthcare, government and the food industry will be able to travel for work, and grocery stores, pharmacies, hardware stores, gas stations and
other essential businesses will remain open. Officials said residents can
still go outside, enjoy open space and go on walks.
Thursday’s move echoed steps taken earlier in the week by San Francisco
and five Bay Area counties, which on Monday issued a shelter-in-place
order closing down non-essential businesses and urging residents not to
leave their homes unless necessary. Bars were closed and restaurants
became delivery- or take-out-only.
“We need to be painfully honest. We’re about to enter a new way of living in Los Angeles for a period,” said the mayor, Eric Garcetti, at a Friday press conference. “Today is a day that will be seared into the story and
the streets of this city.”
The USNS Mercy would provide much-needed hospital beds, a resource Newsom warned this week would become increasingly scarce, as the state looks to
add 19,500 new beds to meet projected demand. Experts worry that demand
from patients who need treatment for coronavirus could overwhelm available resources and make it more difficult to treat patients who need care for trauma, heart attacks or car accidents.
News of the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place order triggered a dash on stores early this week, as residents rushed to panic-buy everything from
groceries to pot and video games – forcing shopkeepers to grapple with
large crowds at the same time health officials have asked everyone to
stand at least six feet apart.
The Bay Area in recent weeks has seen a slow hollowing out of everyday
life, as more and more companies have asked employees to work from home
and ridership on public transportation has plummeted.
Last week the Bay Area city of Oakland received a cruise ship where 21 passengers and crew had been stricken with coronavirus; evacuees from the
ship are now being held in quarantine.
The USNS Mercy is just one measure California is considering to add
hospital beds. Newsom said at a press conference plans are also in motion
to rent two hospitals, one at each end of the state, to meet demand.
How Californians respond to the crisis and restrictions in next eight
weeks will determine how hard the state’s hospitals will be hit, the California Hospital Association’s president said at the press conference.
### - (humming...) here it comes, here it comes?
it's just your 19th nervous breakdown :)
well you've seen what's happened (and is happening) here in the uk innit,
so you know what to expect now over the next few days there as nearly the entire 'world' locks down??
this is a moment in history! they's gonna remember this forever!
not so much because of the virus itself (although that too) but because of
just how 'selfish' people are and/or are becoming under the
circumstances?? jeeze!
any kind of pressure at all and they basically revert to type?? (turn into animals basically heh)
that the 'veneer' of civility people generally exhibit is really only a
very thin one indeed!
perforce that's all they can talk about here now heh; literally every news
show (except russia's RT lol) endlessly talking & criticising what's
happening in increasingly alarming tones (what's happening? what's
happening?? something's happening! omg ruuun! buy-up everything!)
oh dear (sighs deeply...) what it 'is' to be an adult in a world of
hysterical children eh? (same as it ever was?)
i mean, lol what's to be done with 'em?? :)))
ya can't spank them all (haha) and they don't want advice! (are you sayin' there's summat i dunno mate? so are you sayin' i'm stupid or wot?? fight
breaks out etc etc...)
they're not very good at all this are they :D
lol we're crap :)))
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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