Coronavirus: California governor Gavin Newsom orders all 40 million residents to stay at home

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered all Californians to stay at home, marking the first mandatory restrictions placed on the lives of all 40 million residents in the US state’s fight against the novel coronavirus. The governor’s order comes at a critical time in California, where 19 people died and another 958 have tested positive for the disease. Officials hope telling people to remain in their homes and restrict social interactions will slow the spread of the virus and ultimately prevent hospitals from being overrun with sick patients. The request for all residents to quarantine at home marks the strongest escalation of the Newsom administration’s response to the virus. “It’s time for all of us to recognise as individuals and as a community, we need to do more,” Newsom said. Newsom on Thursday also asked Congress for US$1 billion in federal funds to support the state’s medical response to the novel coronavirus, which he said he expects will infect more than half of all Californians. The state projects that 25.5 million people in California will be infected with the coronavirus over an eight-week period, Newsom said in a letter sent to President Donald Trump on Wednesday requesting the deployment of the US Navy’s Mercy Hospital Ship to the Port of Los Angeles through September 1. In a separate letter sent to the leaders of the US Senate and House of Representatives, Newsom said the financial aid is critical to the state’s ability to procure ventilators and other medical supplies, activate state-run hospitals, deploy mobile hospitals and meet other health care needs. “The economic disruption caused by this public health crisis will have immediate and devastating effects on our entire country, including too many families in California,” Newsom wrote. “The magnitude of this crisis is extraordinary and federal-state-local government coordination will be more critical than ever before.” The governor’s office declined to provide an explanation of the state’s projection that 25.5 million Californians will be infected with this virus. Instead, a spokesman for the governor said the state’s mitigation efforts could lower that estimate. “Governor Newsom has been honest about the threat of the virus and its impact on the health and welfare of Californians,” said spokesman Nathan Click. “This projection shows why it’s so critical that Californians take action to slow the spread of the disease – and those mitigation efforts aren’t taken into account in those numbers. The state is deploying every resource at its disposal to meet this challenge, and we continue to ask for the federal government’s assistance in this fight.” Coronavirus: the high stakes propelling the US-China blame game In a briefing on Wednesday, Newsom said the Navy hospital ship and two mobile hospitals would help the state care for an anticipated surge of patients. The governor said the state would need roughly 20,000 more beds if more than half of Californians come down with the coronavirus. “That’s just one scenario plan. There’s others that are more modest. Some may, some cases be more extreme,” Newsom said. “When you’re looking at getting an additional (19,000) to 20,000 beds in your system, you have to look at your existing surge capacity within the health care delivery system, and you have to look at procuring additional assets.” Karen Smith, a communicable disease expert and former director of the California Department of Public Health, said it is difficult to determine how many people will be infected with Covid-19 because so much remains unknown about the novel coronavirus that causes the disease. But Smith, who is advising the response to the pandemic in Santa Clara and Mendocino counties, said the virus is spreading so rapidly that it is time for Newsom to mandate statewide closures of businesses that go beyond actions some counties have taken. Newsom has so far recommended that bars, restaurant dining rooms and other businesses close and left legal orders up the discretion of county officials, who he has argued are in the best position to determine the appropriate response in their communities. As coronavirus panic grows, Americans stock up – on guns Smith said the patchwork approach no longer works at this stage in the fight against the virus. “I personally think that it will be more effective if it is done statewide than if it is done county by county,” Smith said. “There are some counties that aren’t doing anything, but it’s going to leak and it’s going to leak faster if the mitigation stops at some arbitrary boundary.” She said even some counties that have adopted mandatory closures are allowing too many types of businesses to stay open, and residents are not taking recommendations seriously enough. “One way to get their attention is to mandate that all of those businesses close and they stay home,” Smith said. “It’s hard and it’s going to hurt people and it’s going to hurt our most vulnerable people a lot, but so will not doing anything. This is unprecedented, and it takes a long time for people to really get it.” The governor’s request for additional federal funds came three days after lawmakers at the state Capitol approved a plan to spend as much as US$1 billion on the state’s emergency medical response to the pandemic in anticipation of a surge of sick patients. The Democratic governor also requested an expansion of unemployment insurance benefits beyond the 26-week maximum and more funding for Medicaid, federal food assistance, housing and homelessness, state-subsidised early learning and childcare and several other safety net programmes. Purchase the China AI Report 2020 brought to you by SCMP Research and enjoy a 20% discount (original price US$400). This 60-page all new intelligence report gives you first-hand insights and analysis into the latest industry developments and intelligence about China AI. 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