Calif. ends COVID emergency

Move largely symbolic; declarations remain in five states

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s coronavirus emergency officially ended Tuesday, nearly three years after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the nation’s first statewide stay-athome order and just days after the state reached the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths related to the virus.

As California’s emergency winds down, such declarations continue in just five other states — including Texas and Illinois — signaling an end to the expanded legal powers of governors to suspend laws in response to the once mysterious disease. President Joe Biden announced last month the federal government will end its own version May 11.

Newsom on Tuesday signed a proclamation officially ending the state of emergency, declaring “the conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property … no longer exist.”

The end of California’s order will have little to no effect on most people as Newsom already lifted most of the state’s restrictions, like those that required masks, closed beaches and forced many businesses to close.

Illinois’ order will end in May alongside the federal order, while the governors of Rhode Island and Delaware recently extended their coronavirus emergency declarations. In New Mexico, public health officials are weighing whether to extend a COVID-19 health emergency beyond its Friday expiration date.

Texas, meanwhile, hasn’t had any major coronavirus restrictions for years, but Republican Gov. Greg Abbott keeps extending his state’s emergency declaration because it gives him the power to stop some of the states’ more liberal cities from imposing their own restrictions, like requiring masks or vaccines. Abbott has said he’ll keep the emergency order — and his expanded powers — in place until the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature passes a law to prevent local governments from imposing virus restrictions on their own.

The conflicting styles show that, while the emergencies may be ending, the political divide is not.

Newsom has used his authority to make sure all of California’s local governments had restrictions in place during the pandemic, even threatening to cut funding to some cities that refused to enforce them. While California’s emergency declaration is ending, other local emergencies will remain in place — including in Los Angeles County, home to nearly 10 million people.

The Los Angeles emergency order encourages mask use in some public places like business and trains and for residents who have been exposed to the virus. It will remain in effect for another month. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to end the order March 31.