California at ‘tipping point’ as new stay-at-home order looms

LOS ANGELES: California’s governor said the state was at a “tipping point” in the Covid-19 pandemic that would soon overwhelm hospitals as political leaders nationwide turn to increasingly aggressive measures to hold back the latest surge.

Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday that he may clamp new “stay-at-home” orders on California’s roughly 40 million residents in the face of infections and hospitalisations 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 that discussions were underway among state health officials over the potential stay-at-home order.

He expected 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 10pm and 5am daily.

Newsom, who has largely banned indoor dining in the state, has apologised 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 of them wore face masks. More than 4.2 million new Covid19 infections and 36,000 Covid-19 related deaths were reported across the United States in November, according to a Reuters tally.

Hospitalisations are at a pandemic high and deaths the most in six months.

Nearly 93,000 Americans are currently hospitalised with Covid-19, up 11% from last week and double the number a month ago, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county public health reports.

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 would be put on hold from Dec 5 through Jan 2.