As COVID-19 cases in California surged past 200,000 and statewide hospitalizations continued to set all-time highs every day this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom started to tap the brakes today — urging especially hard-hit Imperial County to reinstate its stay-at-home order.
As Imperial and nearly all of the state’s 58 counties have moved toward reopening their economies, cases have soared, particularly in California’s southern and central regions.
In addition to Imperial County, where county officials scheduled an emergency meeting tonight to discuss the governor’s request, 14 other counties have been placed on the state’s “watch list” because of their rise in COVID-19 activity: Contra Costa, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Tulare and Ventura.
The reasons vary – some counties such as Sacramento attributed their case spike to community gatherings; others cited increased testing, prison outbreaks or hospital transfers of COVID-19-positive patients from other counties where hospitals were full.
In contrast, some businesses may reopen within the next two weeks in Santa Clara County, which issued its stay-at-home order earlier than the state and has not yet applied for state permission to reopen sooner than statewide-guidelines, according to a video statement by county health officer Dr. Sara Cody.
