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 Governor Gavin Newsom said he may clamp new "stay-at-home" orders on
California's roughly 40 million residents in the face of infections
and hospitalizations that are still rising weeks before emergency
vaccines are predicted for release.
"(California) has worked hard to prepare for a surge - but we can’t
sustain the record high cases we’re seeing," Newsom said on Twitter.
"Current projections show CA will run out of current ICU beds before
Christmas Eve.
The governor told reporters discussions were underway among state
health officials over the potential stay-at-home order. He expects
to issue a decision in the next day or two.
Last week he ordered a daily curfew barring social gatherings and
other non-essential activities across most of the state between 10
p.m. and 5 a.m. daily.
Newsom, who has largely banned indoor dining in the state, has
apologized after photos surfaced of the first-term Democrat eating
dinner with 11 other people, including a prominent lobbyist, at a
French restaurant near Napa. None wore masks.
More than 4.2 million new COVID-19 infections and 36,000 COVID-19
related deaths were reported across the United States in November,
according to a Reuters tally. Hospitalizations are at a pandemic
high and deaths the most in six months.
Nearly 93,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, up
11% from last week and double the number reported a month ago,
according to a Reuters analysis of state and county public health
reports.
Americans who have endured eight months of restrictions, lockdown
and business closures in the face of the pandemic are pinning their
hopes on vaccines developed by drug companies Pfizer Inc and Moderna
that are awaiting U.S. government approval for emergency use.
VACCINES BY CHRISTMAS?
U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar said Pfizer's medication could be
authorized and shipped within days of a Dec. 10 meeting of outside
advisers to the Food and Drug Administration.
Moderna's vaccine could follow a week later, Azar said, after the
company announced on Monday it would apply for emergency
authorization both in the U.S. and Europe.
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"So we could be seeing both of these vaccines out and getting into people's arms
before Christmas," Azar said on CBS' "This Morning."
Health officials in many states say that even after the vaccines are approved
the rollout to Americans nationwide could be slowed by shortages of personal
protective equipment and other factors.
The non-partisan Government Accountability Office reported on Monday that some
diagnostic test kits and accompanying reagents, as well as PPE are hard to come
by "due to a supply chain with limited domestic production and high global
demand."
In Los Angeles, health officials on Friday banned all public and private
gatherings for at least three weeks and urged residents to stay home as much as
possible.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday ordered all elective surgeries to
cease in one county and told hospitals statewide to plan on increasing their
capacity by 50% if necessary or set up and staff field hospitals.
"Hospital capacity is the top concern," Cuomo said.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said that as of Saturday he was re-tightening
the limit on most outdoor gatherings to 25 people.
Murphy, who has brought back a series of COVID-19 restrictions in recent weeks,
also said all indoor youth and adult sports will be put on hold from Dec. 5
through Jan. 2, 2021, also with exemptions.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and David Shephardson in Washington, D.C., Peter
Szekely Maria Caspani, Jonathan Allen and Barbara Goldberg in New York, Steve
Gorman and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Tom Brown)
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