California warns stay-at-home order could follow if hospitalization numbers don't improve

Allan, Allisun and Lilah Gonzalez walk along the Huntington Beach Pier on Monday.

By Andrew TurnerStaff Writer

Published Nov. 30, 2020 Updated Dec. 1, 2020 5:13 PM PT

With coronavirus cases on the rise, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday indicated that a stay-at-home order could again be on the way if hospitalization numbers do not improve.

State and public health officials expressed concern that the healthcare system could be overrun in the upcoming weeks by the pandemic as it is surging once more.

Data presented during Newsom’s coronavirus briefing showed that approximately 75% of intensive care unit beds in California are currently occupied. Projections for ICU capacity have Southern California reaching its limit by mid-to-late December. The region is currently at about 74% capacity for its ICU beds.

“If these trends continue, we’re going to have to take much more dramatic, arguably drastic action,” Newsom said.

Those actions could include a stay-at-home order for regions in purple that is more along the lines of the one seen earlier in the year. The state announced that there are now 51 counties in the purple tier. That number includes Orange County, which slipped back into the most restrictive tier regarding virus transmission on Nov. 16.

The state has already issued a curfew of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for counties in the purple tier through Dec. 21.

Julian Radmilovich, from Anaheim, walks along the Huntington Beach Pier.

“We’re not just now looking at positivity rates,” Newsom said. “We’re not now just looking at case rates. We are now looking in real time at hospitalization numbers and ICU capacity in those regions.”

The Orange County Health Care Agency reported Tuesday that the county currently has 648 hospitalizations due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. The number of patients being treated in intensive care units is at 158.

California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said that all options are in play for how the state will navigate the challenge of the pandemic. He added that officials will focus on measures that will be “impactful and time-limited.”

Ghaly also said that the availability of ICU beds was being looked at as “the primary trigger for deeper, more restrictive actions.”

“Statewide, we see that the second half of December could be pushing the limits in some areas,” Ghaly said. “We want to act sooner than that so that we can get transmission down and we can handle those potential high ICU surges.”

Orange County reported 790 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday. The county did not report any additional deaths due to the virus, keeping the county’s cumulative related fatalities at 1,577. Since the onset of the pandemic, the county has experienced 79,343 cases.

The county healthcare agency also reported 17,236 tests for the virus within the last day, bringing the total number of tests administered to 1,469,434. An estimated 60,186 people have recovered after contracting the virus countywide.