SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted stay-at-home orders across the state Monday in response to improving coronavirus conditions, a surprising move hailed by beleaguered businesses. But some local health officials worried could undo the recent sharp drop in cases and hospitalizations.

“We’re seeing a flattening of the curve — everything that should be up is up, everything that should be down is down — case rates, positivity rates, hospitalizations, ICUs,” Newsom told reporters.

The turnaround came about a month after hospitals crafted emergency plans for rationing care and as intensive care unit capacity in the vast Southern California region currently stands at 0%. State data models forecast that the region’s ICU capacity will rise to 33% — the highest of any of the state’s five regions — by Feb. 21.

The lifting of the stay-at-home order allows restaurants and churches to resume outdoor operations and hair and nail salons to reopen in many areas, though local officials could choose to impose stricter rules. The state is also lifting a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.

Most California counties will return to the most restrictive purple tier of a four-tier, color-coded system for determining what businesses can be open.

Northern California was never under the stay-at-home order and the Greater Sacramento region exited two weeks ago. Now, the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley agricultural region and Southern California, covering the majority of the state’s counties, may exit the order.

The state predicted the following regional ICU capacity in four weeks: 25% for the Bay Area; 27.3% in Greater Sacramento; 22.3% in the San Joaquin Valley and 18.9% in Northern California.

After the stay-at-home order was lifted, elected officials in many counties announced they would move to allow the reopening of outdoor restaurant dining and other services.

“We will be moving forward with some limited re-openings, including outdoor dining and personal services,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a tweet.

Heavily populated Orange County south of Los Angeles planned to lift some restrictions as well, said Jessica Good, a spokesperson for the county health agency.

In Los Angeles County, home to 10 million people, county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said outdoor dining will reopen Friday with capacity limits for restaurants.

Newsom imposed the stay-at-home order in December as coronavirus cases worsened.

Under the state-imposed system for closures, multi-county regions had to shut down most businesses and order people to stay home when ICU capacity dropped below 15%. The state makes its decisions based on four-week projections showing ICU capacity improving.

Officials have not disclosed the data behind the forecasts, though Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the state’s health and human services agency, said the state would make more data public later Monday.

Last weekend, San Francisco Bay Area ICU capacity surged to 23% while the San Joaquin Valley’s ICU capacity increased to 1.3%.

Republicans said Newsom was relaxing the rules in response to political pressure and the threat of a recall. Republican organizers have until mid-March to gather 1.5 million signatures to force a recall vote against Newsom, who is halfway through his first term.

“This Governor’s decisions have never been based on science. Him re-opening our state is not an attempt to help working Californians, but rather an attempt to counter the Recall Movement. It’s sad and pathetic,” California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson tweeted.

Jeff Smith, the Santa Clara County executive, said his county had no plans to impose stricter rules but criticized the state’s decision.

“Essentially it’s a decision being made politically that puts people’s lives at risk, especially in Southern California,” he told The Mercury News.

The criticism wasn’t limited to Newsom’s partisan political opponents.

Democratic Assemblywoman Laura Friedman of Glendale said state lawmakers have been kept out of the loop on changing rules that Newsom’s administration has used to impose COVID-19 restrictions.

“If you think state legislators were blindsided by, and confused about, the shifting & confusing public health directives, you’d be correct,” she tweeted. “If you think we have been quiet about it in Sacramento, you’d be wrong.”

Newsom said the appropriate people had been notified in advance and called the suggestion that he was lifting the order due to political pressure “nonsense.”

The state’s purple public health safety tier, which most counties will now be in, allows for outdoor dining, the openings of hair and nail salons and outdoor church services. Bars that only serve beverages cannot be open.

The county-by-county tier system uses various metrics to determine the risk of community transmission and applies color codes — purple, red, orange or yellow — which correspond to transmission risk levels.

As of last weekend, California has had more than 3.1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 36,790 deaths, according to the state’s public health website.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post California lifts virus stay-at-home orders, curfew statewide appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

As expected, a regional stay-at-home order in effect across Southern California due to surging COVID-19 hospitalizations was formally extended Tuesday, continuing a ban on all gatherings of people from different households and in-person dining and setting strict capacity limits at many businesses.

The state’s regional order, which covers Riverside County and 10 other Southern California counties, took effect at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 6 and was set to expire Monday. But with the region’s intensive-care unit capacity at hospitals still officially listed at 0 percent, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday the order was all but certain to be extended. The state’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly, made it official Tuesday, saying incoming COVID-19 patients are expected to continue exceeding ICU capacity in the region over the next four weeks.

The order was not extended for any specific timeframe. Ghaly said the four-week projections are evaluated daily, and the region can emerge from the stay-at-home order whenever the projection indicates a region’s ICU capacity will rise above 15 percent.

The four-week projections are based on four factors: current ICU capacity, the region’s seven-day average daily new case rate, the transmission rate and the rate of ICU admissions.

With the Southern California region’s current ICU capacity is still listed at 0 percent — and health officials anticipating case numbers and hospitalizations to rise throughout January based on gatherings that likely occurred for Christmas and will again for New Year’s Eve despite warnings — the region is expected to remain under the order for weeks to come.

“We should expect that the hospitals that are under duress, that are in crisis already, will continue to see a high number of patients knocking on the door asking for care. Ambulances that still need to find a place to drop off a patient so they can get back in the field to support other patients who need care,” Ghaly said. “… All of those trends tell me and give me continued concern that we need to continue to work to prepare for (the) next holiday surge of cases into the early part of next year, and that likely … in the middle of January we will see a significant higher number of cases than we have today of individuals with COVID who need hospital-level care.”

In anticipation of the state’s action, Los Angeles County on Sunday night extended its local stay-at-home order, which essentially mirrors the state’s restrictions.

The state also extended the stay-at-home order for the San Joaquin Valley. Four of the five regions carved out by the state are under stay-at-home orders, covering 98 percent of the state’s population. Only far northern California is not under a stay-at-home order.

The Southern California region covers Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Imperial, Inyo, Mono, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Most broadly, the order bars gatherings of people from different households.

Under the order, the following businesses/recreational facilities were forced to close:

— indoor recreational facilities;

— hair salons and barbershops;

— personal care services;

— museums, zoos, and aquariums;

— movie theaters;

— wineries;

— bars, breweries and distilleries;

— family entertainment centers;

— cardrooms and satellite wagering;

— limited services;

— live audience sports; and

— amusement parks.

Schools with waivers can remain open, along with “critical infrastructure” and retail stores, which are limited to 20 percent of capacity. Restaurants are restricted to takeout and delivery service only. Hotels are allowed to open “for critical infrastructure support only,” while churches are restricted to outdoor only services. Entertainment production — including professional sports — can continue without live audiences.

The order was triggered in each area when the region’s ICU bed availability dropped below 15 percent.

Newsom noted Monday that COVID-19 hospital admissions have begun to plateau across much of the state — except in Southern California, with Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties continuing to be the hardest hit.

Los Angeles County has rapidly become the epicenter of the pandemic in the state, with the state reporting more than 7,400 COVID-19 patients in L.A. County hospitals as of Tuesday, including nearly 1,500 in intensive-care unit beds. Newsom said 96 percent of Los Angeles County hospitals diverted ambulances to other facilities at some point over the weekend due to overcrowding in emergency rooms — up from a normal average of 33 percent of hospitals going on diversion.

According to Newsom, L.A. County hospitals on average spent 16 hours on diversion over the weekend, unable to find space for emergency patients.

Ghaly said hospitals are doing the best they can under trying circumstances, and while some Southern California medical centers have begun taking steps that might be considered part of “crisis care,” none have fully entered that mode and been forced to make decisions such as rationing equipment like ventilators.

Ghaly again preached compliance with health orders such as staying at home as much as possible, wearing a face covering and practicing social distancing.

“Much of what we’re dealing with is avoidable,” he said. “Much of what we’re seeing can be stopped if we collectively make decisions to stop it.”

Newsom on Monday had harsh words for counties and county officials who continue to “thumb your nose” at health orders. He singled out Riverside County, where Sheriff Chad Bianco has publicly criticized Newsom and said his agency would not be “blackmailed” into becoming an enforcement arm of state health officials.

Newsom has said repeatedly that counties that don’t adhere to health restrictions would lose state funding.

“We’re in the midst of a pandemic,” Newsom said. “I don’t know what more evidence you need, particularly, as highlighted, Riverside County is experiencing what they’re experiencing in ICUs and hospitals and lives lost. I mean, what more evidence do you need that trying to enforce good behavior will actually save lives? It’s a noble and right thing to do.

“To dismiss as many have in the past and some of the same folks … some still holding onto this as a hoax or face coverings don’t matter. … They’re not helping. They’re not advancing that cause, and so we will be assertive as we have been, we will be aggressive, as we have been.”

Bianco, in a video message posted online earlier this month, called state health mandates “flat-out ridiculous,” while calling Newsom’s stances hypocritical in light of his criticism of the federal government for withholding funds from states, and following Newsom’s well-publicized attendance at a dinner party in spite of his own regulations against such gatherings.

Bianco told residents in his message to wear a mask and practice social distancing, but said, “While the governor’s office and the state has threatened action against violators, the Riverside County Sheriff‘s Department will not be blackmailed, bullied or used as muscle against Riverside County residents in the enforcement of the governor’s orders.”

-City News Service

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Stay-At-Home Order Extended In Riverside County, SoCal appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Today, December 28 was supposed to be the day Governor Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order expires. However, state health officials said with ICU beds still occupied the order will most likely be extended.

The order first took effect on December 6, over three weeks ago.

ICU beds in Riverside County are still below the 15% they need to be at or above in order for us to end the stay-at-home order. As of Sunday, December 27, 277 people in our county are in the ICU and this means our capacity is at zero percent.

If the stay-at-home order is extended this means indoor recreational facilities must stay closed as well as hair salons and barbershops. Personal care services, museums, zoos, movie theaters and bars would all have to remain closed.

What would remain open are schools with waivers, retails stores at 20 percent capacity, restaurants only doing takeout. Hotels can stay open only for critical infrastructure support. Churches can only hold outdoor services.

“Again, at peril will be in a surge on top of a surge where we are today on top of yet again another surge in the middle and latter part of January and February,” Newsom said last Wednesday, December 23.

“When we talked before, we talked about there were surges, now I’m actually saying we have a virtual tsunami on our hands here in California and Los Angeles,” UCLA Fielding school of public health professor, Dr. Robert Kim-Farley said.

It is likely the stay-at-home order will be extended but there has not been a definite ruling made yet.

Governor Newsom may speak on this topic later today.

Be sure you stay with News Channel 3 on-air and online for continued coverage on this stay-at-home order.

–By Caitlin Thropay

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Stay-at-home order likely extended due to ICU capacity appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The Temporary Outdoor Flex Space Permit Program was set up to help restaurants, retail and service businesses stay open during the pandemic and make use of extra space on streets and sidewalks.

But with the state-mandated “regional stay-at-home” order going into effect at 11:59 p.m. Sunday across Southern California, city officials said businesses must cease their outdoor operations at that time, with the exception of places of worship.

They said restaurants can continue to offer take-away, pick-up and delivery services.

The stay-at-home order was triggered when intensive-care unit bed availability remained below 15% after Saturday’s daily update, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Both the stay-at-home order and the suspension of the Flex Space program will be in effect for at least three weeks.

Anyone with questions about the Flex Space program can contact Project Assistant Jessica Hernandez at JHernandez@riversideca.gov or at 951-826-2427.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Riverside Announces Flex Space Program Suspension Ahead of Stay-at-Home Order appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

“We have seen cases and other metrics rising for the past month and it is expected to get even worse this month,” said Kim Saruwatari, director of the Riverside County Department of Public Health. “We must practice social distancing and wear masks to preserve valuable space and staff in our hospital system. These resources are already stretched thin.”

For more information on the types of businesses impacted by the regional stay-at-home order and to monitor the regional ICU capacity, visit https://covid19.ca.gov/stay-home-except-foressential-needs/.

In Riverside County, total COVID positive hospitalizations have set new highs each day this week. As of Dec. 4, there are 658 COVID positive patients hospitalized, including 135 patients requiring treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU). In July, the highest number of COVID positive hospitalizations was 550, and the highest number of patients requiring ICU care was 167.

Critical county services and programs will continue on behalf of our residents. In line with the regional stay-at-home order, many of those services could return to being provided virtually. This practice has been critical to how the county has conducted business throughout the pandemic. Residents should call ahead to determine if their needs can be met online, over the phone or through the mail. Some services requiring in-person visits may need an appointment.

Dec. 10 is the deadline to make the second installment of property taxes, which can be paid online, over the phone or through the mail. Owners who need to pay their property taxes in person next week will be able to do so while observing social distancing and safety guidelines.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Governor issues Stay-at-Home order for Southern California region for at least three weeks appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Mt. San Jacinto College (MSJC) has continued providing students instruction but had to cancel all of its face-to-face events.

However, the MSJC Foundation has good news for MSJC students, faculty and staff. We may not be able to attend a concert in a large or quaint venue right now, but thanks to very generous sponsors, we can still enjoy some stellar performances in our new virtual concert series featuring five great acts from various musical genres.

The free hourlong concerts would not be possible without MSJC Foundation sponsors Pepsi; CW Driver; Keenan; Image Source; Dominion Trust; So Cal Gas; and California Coast Credit Union.

The MSJC (Stay-At-Home) Concert Series launches today, May 29, with Jimmie Allen, a breakthrough country music artist slated to play the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio in October. 

Up-and-coming country music artist Matt Stell, a former college basketball player best known for “Prayed for You,” will perform Wednesday, June 10.

Platinum-selling Parmalee, a 2016 Academy of Country Music (ACM) “New Vocal Duo/Group of the Year” nominee, jams on Wednesday, June 24. The band was slated to play the Menifee Music & Arts Festival on the MSJC Menifee Valley Campus this year until its cancelation.

Eve 6, which scored several hits in the ‘90s such as “Inside Out,” takes the “stage” Wednesday, July 8.

Thompson Square, the Grammy-nominated country music duo who headlined the Menifee Music & Arts Festival in 2019, will entertain us again on Wednesday, July 22. The multi-platinum-selling husband and wife have earned “Vocal Duo of the Year” honors from both the ACM and Country Music Association (CMA) awards.

The MSJC (Stay-At-Home) Concert Series benefits the MSJC Foundation’s Pledge for Success, a basic-needs initiative that supports MSJC students with emergency funding and food, books and supplies, professional clothing, and essential hygienic kits throughout the year. The Pledge is needed now more than ever as we work to provide the resources our students need at this time. Learn more about it at www.msjc.edu/pledgeforsuccess

Each concert will be streamed live on YouTube for MSJC students, faculty and staff.

Mt. San Jacinto College serves about 27,000 students – about two-thirds of which are on financial aid – over a 1,700-square-mile area.

On May 21, Mt. San Jacinto College (MSJC) awarded a record-breaking 3,554 degrees and certificates to 1,958 graduates during its virtual graduation ceremony.

Have a wonderful day and please follow MSJC on social media — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.

The post MSJC Foundation Launches Virtual Concert Series Benefiting Students appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.