‘There are places where it looks like life as usual. It is not as usual. Get used to it’
‘These provisions will be enforced. They are not helpful hints. There will be fines and closures’
As California woke up yesterday to almost total lockdown, San Francisco had been quiet for three days already. The US’S most populous state is battening down the hatches in the face of coronavirus, but the City by the Bay is already subject to the most restrictive measures in the country.
Its residents have been confined to their homes since Tuesday other than for essential trips to the supermarket or to take walks or jog for exercise.
Everything in the Bay Area’s seven counties is closed apart from “essential” businesses – food shops, pharmacies, banks, car and bicycle repair and of course, cannabis dispensaries, designated as medicine suppliers by the mayor’s office.
On Thursday, Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, made the restrictions statewide, requested a military hospital ship to be sent to Los Angeles by the federal government and warned that if he did not act, 56 per cent of the state’s population – more than 25million people – would end up getting the virus.
In some parts of the state, Mr Newsom said, the caseload was doubling every four days. It appears to be the start in the US of the kind of shutdowns seen in Europe and China.
The states of New York and Illinois also announced “stay-at-home” orders, meaning America’s three largest cities – New York, Los Angeles and Chicago – were covered by the measures. Those who violated the measures could ultimately face fines. Some other states were expected to follow suit. California is home to a wealthy, international population, some of whom brought the virus with them on journeys back from hardware factories in China, from skiing holidays in Italy and from the Grand Princess cruise ship, the source of many cases throughout the US and Canada.
But it is also home to an estimated 150,000 homeless people. They are excluded from orders to get indoors but the city says it will get as many people into shelter as possible.
There are concerns that the virus could run rampant in a population unable to access hygiene facilities, and in which many are over 50 and have chronic health problems.
In San Francisco, police can enforce the order, and there are anecdotal reports of residents being fined hundreds of dollars for failing to keep a 6ft distance from others while out and about.
But so far there are few public signs of defiance, with compliance helped by cool weather and a lack of places to gather. All bars are closed and chairs are piled by the doors of coffee shops restricted to takeout only. There are also few signs of the heavy-handedness seen in Europe, with residents allowed to roam with relative freedom as long as they keep their distance.
Statewide, Mr Newsom hopes social pressure will be enough. “There’s a social contract here. People I think recognise the need to do more,” he said. “They will begin to adjust and adapt. We will have social pressure and that will encourage people to do the right thing.”
Quick action by city and state government has been matched by the technology companies, the Bay Area’s major employers.
Employees at Google, Facebook and Apple have been working from home for weeks, with only Tesla, run by maverick coronavirus-doubter Elon
Musk, still asking employees to come to work before admitting defeat and announcing a shutdown on Thursday.
Yesterday, the federal government took drastic action of a different sort. Donald Trump’s main response to the crisis has been closing borders, stopping all flights from Europe, including the UK, last week.
Now Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the country’s borders with Canada and Mexico will close to all non-essential travel from today.
Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of New York, said that starting on Sunday there would be “a 100 per cent workforce reduction”, with only pharmacies, supermarkets and banks remaining open.
Restaurants, bars, cinemas and theatres all closed on Monday, and many shops had already announced they were closing.
Tens of thousands of people in the hospitality and entertainment industries have already lost their jobs.
Donald Trump’s Mar-a-lago resort in Florida was also temporarily closed due to the coronavirus, The New York Times reported. After several guests were confirmed to have the virus, the club shut on Monday for a deep clean, but has remained closed since, it said.
Trump’s business has reportedly also temporarily closed golf courses in Los Angeles and Miami, stopped taking bookings at its Las Vegas hotel and scaled back operations at hotels in New York and Washington.
New York’s online unemployment benefit application system crashed as it tried to accommodate a spike in volume that resembled the surge after the Sept 11 2001 terrorist attacks.
By noon on Tuesday, the state labour department had received more than 21,000 calls, it said, compared with 2,000 a week earlier.
Mr Cuomo said that only essential personnel would be allowed at workplaces, adding that public transport would run as usual, and people could still go outdoors, but not congregate in groups or play group sports. “These provisions will be enforced,” he said. “They are not helpful hints. There will be a civil fine and mandatory closure for any business not in compliance.”
New Yorkers, unused to being cooped up in their often small apartments, have been flocking to the parks to run, walk, cycle, take part in outdoor “boot camps” and skateboard.
The governor, however, has resisted calls from the Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, to enforce “shelter at home” orders, saying repeatedly that residents needed to be allowed to go outside for their sanity.