Orders
“We will be moving forward with some limited reopenings, including outdoor dining and personal services,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a tweet.
Orange County planned to lift some restrictions as well, said Jessica Good, a spokesperson for the county health agency. In Los Angeles County, home to 10 million people, Republican Supervisor Kathryn Barger expressed support for opening outdoor dining, personal care services and other industries and said the state must balance public health with “devastating social, emotional and economic impacts of this virus.” Los Angeles County public health officials are expected to hold a briefing later Monday.
The state’s decision came amid improving trends in California’s rate of infections, hospitalizations and intensive care unit capacity as well as vaccinations.
Newsom, a Democrat, imposed the stay-at-home order in December as coronavirus cases worsened.
Under the system, a multi-county region had to shut down most businesses and order people
to stay home if ICU capacity dropped below 15%. An 11-county Northern California region was never under the order and the Greater Sacramento Region exited the order last week. The state makes its decisions based on four-week projections showing ICU capacity improving, but officials have not disclosed the data behind the forecasts.
During the weekend, San Francisco Bay Area ICU capacity surged to 23% while the San Joaquin Valley agricultural region increased to 1.3%, its first time above zero. The huge Southern California region, the most populous, remains at zero ICU capacity.
Republicans said Newsom was relaxing the rules in response to political pressure and the threat of a recall. Republican organizers have until midMarch to gather 1.5 million signatures to force a recall against Newsom, who is halfway through his first term.
“This Governor’s decisions have never been based on science. Him re-opening our state is not an attempt to help working Californians, but rather an attempt to counter the Recall Movement. It’s sad and pathetic,” California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson tweeted.