Bay Area counties to shut down ahead of California mandate amid ‘dark COVID winter’
Jumping ahead of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest pandemic directive, five Bay Area counties announced Friday they would shut down much of their economies this weekend to try to stem a mushrooming wave of COVID-19 infections in California.
“We must act swiftly,” said Chris Farnitano, Contra Costa County’s health services officer, in announcing the shutdown. “This is an emergency.”
The announcement came a day after Newsom said the state would impose stricter shutdowns — including closure of hair and nail salons, tighter restrictions on retailers and an end to outdoor restaurant dining — once a region is down to 15% available capacity in its intensive care units.
The Bay Area has more ICU availability than any other region in the state — it was at 25% capacity Thursday and wasn’t expected to hit the threshold until late this month — but the region’s health officers decided to act now anyway. The orders will take effect Sunday night and last through Jan. 4.
The restrictions begin at 10 p.m. Sunday in Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties; at 12:01 a.m. Monday in San Francisco and Alameda counties; and noon Tuesday in Marin County.
Farnitano said the onset of a “dark COVID winter” left health officers with little alternative.
The preemptive shutdown does not include other counties in the Bay Area’s shutdown region created by the Governor’s Office, which section the state by regional hospital networks. Those other counties are Monterey, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Sonoma and Solano counties.
Yuba-Sutter actions
Yuba and Sutter counties also said Friday that it is “strongly advising” residents to follow Newsom’s directive starting Monday.
Phuong Luu, the health officer for both counties, announced that schools should revert to distance learning and restaurants should eliminate onsite dining, indoor or outdoor.
Luu’s declaration, posted on the internet, was titled as an “advisory,” not an order. Officials in the two largely rural counties have struggled to enforce previous shutdown orders during the pandemic.
“I understand this is a heavy lift but we are asking this for not only our friends and relatives, but our nurses and doctors, and other hospital staff — some of whom are already near their breaking point,” Luu wrote.
Luu noted that the two counties have just one hospital, Adventist-Rideout, where hospitalizations have tripled in recent weeks.
Sacramento region watching
Meanwhile, Sacramento County officials reiterated that they plan to wait until the region hits the 15% threshold and don’t plan to go ahead with a shutdown any sooner than that.
“Currently, we are not considering that,” county spokeswoman Brenda Bongiorno said. “The state is posting ICU capacities on their website, and we are keeping an eye on that. The greater Sacamento region, as of now, is at a little over 22% capacity.”
Newsom said Thursday that Sacramento could hit the 15% mark within days.
El Dorado and Placer county officials this week complained that the governor’s plan goes too far. They say the governor is not offering enough statistical data to support reducing retail business capacities during the holiday shopping season.
Tomas Aragon, San Francisco’s health officer, noted that the Bay Area was the first region in the state to impose a stay-at-home order in March.
“The Bay Area is a model,” he said on a conference call with reporters. “The data shows early action is once again needed.”
He said the region is seeing 1,700 new coronavirus infections a day, quadruple the figure from late October.
Nicholas Moss, Alameda County’s health officer, said area officials believe they need to act before the governor because it will take weeks for the effect of the shutdown to start arresting the spread of the virus. “To wait to see the worst that COVID can do would be too late,” he said.
The health officers said they don’t anticipate slapping violators with fines or other citations. “Our approach is to provide education and support,” said Berkeley’s health officer Lisa Fernandez.
But officials have resorted to fines on occasion. Farnitano said Contra Costa officials have fined a bar and two health clubs for violating previous pandemic orders.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 2:20 PM with the headline "Bay Area counties to shut down ahead of California mandate amid ‘dark COVID winter’."