Fred M. Whitaker, PC
Governor Newsom has initiated a regional “Stay at Home” order. This order applies to regions that have 15% or less of available intensive care unit (ICU) beds available in that region’s hospitals. The following information is current as of December 5th.
Five State Regions
The order breaks the state into five regions:
Northern California: Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity (ICU Beds currently at 20.9%)
Bay Area: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma (ICU Beds currently at 21.2%)
Greater Sacramento: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba (ICU Beds currently at 21.4%)
San Joaquin Valley: Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne (ICU Beds currently at 14.1%)
Southern California: Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura (ICU Beds currently at 13.1%)
When a region’s available ICU beds are 15% of the total capacity or less, the Regional Stay at Home order will be triggered within 24 hours of reaching the 15% threshold, for a minimum of three weeks. After the initial three week period, the region’s available ICU beds will be evaluated on a weekly basis until the available ICU beds are above the 15% availability threshold.
When implemented for a region, the Regional Stay at Home order supersedes the color coded tier system that is currently in place. Once a region is removed from the Regional Stay at Home order, each individual county in that region will be placed back onto the color coded tier system.
Counties in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions are currently under the Regional Stay at Home Order.
Additionally, the following Bay Area counties have made a decision to voluntarily be under the Stay at Home order despite their ICU bed capacity being above 15%: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco and the City of Berkeley.
Sectors that Must Close during Stay at Home Orders
When the Stay at Home order is triggered for a region, the following sectors must close:
• Indoor and outdoor playgrounds
• 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
• Amusement parks
Sectors Allowed to Remain Open
The following sectors will be allowed to stay open with the following parameters:
• Outdoor recreational facilities: Outdoor operation only without any food, drink or alcohol sales. Additionally, overnight stays at campgrounds will not be permitted.
• Retail: Indoor operation at 20% capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
• Shopping centers: Indoor operation at 20% capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
• Hotels and lodging: Open for critical infrastructure support only.
• Restaurants: Only for take-out, pick-up, or delivery.
• Offices: Employees must work remotely except for critical infrastructure sectors where remote working is not possible.
• Places of worship and political expression: Outdoor services only.
• Entertainment production, including professional sports: Operation without live audiences. Testing protocol and “bubbles” are highly encouraged.
The Regional Stay at Home Order does not impact schools (if currently open via a waiver), critical infrastructure, non-urgent dental and medical care, and childcare and pre-K will be allowed to stay open with 100% masking and social distancing.
Currently, nearly all counties that are not under the Regional Stay at Home Order are in the most restrictive “widespread” purple tier, which has placed a 10pm curfew for most activities, unless one is traveling to or from work, receiving medical assistance, or is working in a critical infrastructure, among other restrictions.
Travel Restrictions
In addition, California strongly discourages traveling beyond one’s county, unless for emergency reasons. Travelers are urged to self-quarantine for fourteen days upon their return and limit interactions with members of one’s household.
Information on restrictions in relation to the tiered system and industry specific guidance can be found at https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/
Please do not hesitate to reach out if we can be of assistance in any way for you or your business through this difficult time.
If you would like to have a discussion or consultation on the comments made in this article, please reach out to fwhitaker@cwlawyers.com to set up a time to discuss.
