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 The stay-at-home order will go into effect from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m.
each day, starting Saturday night and ending on the morning of Dec.
21, covering 41 of California's 58 counties and the vast majority of
its population, Governor Gavin Newsom said.
"The virus is spreading at a pace we haven't seen since the start of
this pandemic, and the next several days and weeks will be critical
to stop the surge," Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement
announcing the measure a week before the Thanksgiving holiday.
A similar 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew order was issued on Thursday in
Ohio and will remain in effect for the next 21 days, Governor Mike
DeWine, a Republican, announced separately.
As in California, the Ohio curfew would not prohibit grocery stores
from remaining open past 10 p.m, or keep restaurants from staying
open late for takeout orders. Individuals would likewise be
permitted to venture out for food, medical care, or other
necessities, as well as to take a jog or walk a dog.
In California, the restriction essentially marks a return to the
first-in-the-nation, statewide stay-home order that Newsom imposed
in March, except it applies only during the designated curfew hours
rather than around the clock.
Signs of a resurgent public health crisis have emerged more starkly
across the country, with officials forced to retreat from tentative
steps to normalize daily life during what had been a brief lull in
the pandemic.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a "strong
recommendation" on Thursday that Americans refrain from traveling
for the holiday.
Later in the day, President-elect Joe Biden emerged from a
teleconference with a bipartisan group of 10 governors saying they
had discussed a possible universal face-mask requirement - an idea
Biden has strenuously advocated as a "patriotic duty."
Biden also repeated he had no plans to impose a U.S. economic
lockdown.
REIMPOSING RESTRICTIONS
Newsom and DeWine's orders were among the most restrictive of
various measures state and local government leaders nationwide have
imposed on social and economic life this week as COVID-19
hospitalizations and deaths have soared heading into the winter,
when more people congregate indoors.
Minnesota ordered a shutdown of restaurants, bars, fitness centers
and entertainment venues from Friday until Dec. 18 at the earliest,
as the state's hospital intensive care units were being stretched to
capacity.
The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United
States has jumped nearly 50% in the past two weeks, with more than
80,000 people being treated for the disease in hospitals across the
country as of late Thursday, a Reuters tally showed, the most at any
time during the pandemic.
The COVID-19 surge - and the refusal of some Americans to take it
seriously as a real threat - has taken its toll on healthcare
workers.
"I think that we're exhausted. We feel alone, alienated and hearing
people not being supportive or compassionate - in fact, saying that
we're in some conspiracy - is incredibly painful," Mariam Torossian,
a pulmonary critical care physician at Providence Saint Joseph's
Medical Center in Burbank, California.
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The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 250,000 on Wednesday, with more than
2,000 additional lives lost as of Thursday, and public health experts projecting
the cumulative number could climb well above 400,000 by March.
More than 20 states have adopted new mandates this month to confront the
mounting crisis.
Newsom, a first-term Democrat, warned that "more stringent actions" may be
necessary in California, the most populous U.S. state with some 40 million
residents, if the latest efforts to blunt the contagion fall short.
Still, Republican state Assemblyman James Gallagher branded the governor's
curfew "arbitrary," saying it would "further decimate struggling businesses that
already face some of the toughest hurdles in the country."
Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, also a Republican, said he would not
enforce it.
NEW YORK SCHOOLS, RESTAURANTS
New York City's public school system, the nation's largest, halted in-class
instruction due to rising infection rates just weeks after allowing its 1.1
million students back into classrooms on a part-time basis.
Mayor Bill de Blasio defended his decision to close the schools as a necessary
but temporary measure, and said he expects the state to shut down indoor
restaurant dining and gyms in the city "within a week or two" given rising
infection rates.
Still, working parents voiced exasperation at the hardships it placed on them
and the emotional toll on their children.
"I am sick, as a working mom, of waiting, checking Twitter to see if schools are
going to be open tomorrow and how to juggle my work responsibilities and tell my
daughter again to buck up," Natalia Petrzela, whose 8-year-old attends public
school in the city, told Reuters.
The Northeast, which for months had maintained low infection rates after being
the epicenter of the pandemic in the spring, has experienced the highest
percentage jump in hospitalizations at 85% over the past 14 days, according to
Reuters data. During that same period, hospitalizations in the Midwest have
risen 57%, in the West by 50%, and in the South by 34%.
In the nation's capital, the Smithsonian Institution announced it would close
its museums and the National Zoo beginning on Monday, with no set reopening
date.
Looking further ahead, Pennsylvania officials announced that crowds will not be
permitted to attend annual Groundhog Day festivities in Punxsutawney,
Pennsylvania, on Feb. 2.
(Reporting by Maria Caspani, Gabriella Borter and Sharon Bernstein; Additional
reporting by Anurag Maan, Rich McKay, Susan Heavey, Angela Moore and Rollo Ross;
Writing by Steve Gorman and Gabriella Borter; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Bill
Tarrant and Daniel Wallis)
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