(Headline USA) California lifted regional stay-at-home orders across the state Monday in response to allegedly improving coronavirus conditions, returning the state to a system of county-by-county restrictions, state health officials announced.
The order had been in place in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, covering the majority of the state’s counties.
The moves are part of a pattern across Democrat-governed states and jurisdictions to open up their economies after lockdowns were believed to help harm the re-election prospects of former President Donald Trump.
With Joe Biden’s inauguration last week, leaders like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot have advocated for the removal of COVID restrictions and a return to some semblance of normal for their economies.
The Gateway Pundit reported:
The 7 day average of new cases is higher now than it was in early December when Gavin Newsom imposed the regional lockdowns and curfew.
In December Newsom introduced regional stay-at-home orders which is triggered when ICU capacity falls below 15%.
ICU capacity is still below 15%, Covid cases and deaths are still soaring but Newsom just lifted the lockdown order anyway.
California closes outdoor dining (left), California reopens outdoor dining (right). [Obama shrugging confused gif here] pic.twitter.com/RXUAEUgSzS
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) January 25, 2021
The change in California will allow businesses such as restaurants to resume outdoor operations in many areas, though local officials could choose to continue stricter rules.
The state is also lifting a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.
“Together, we changed our activities knowing our short-term sacrifices would lead to longer-term gains. COVID-19 is still here and still deadly, so our work is not over, but it’s important to recognize our collective actions saved lives and we are turning a critical corner,” Dr. Tomas Aragon, the state’s public health director, said without providing any evidence that the measures had any effect.
Newsom is expected to address the public later Monday.
The decision comes with improving trends in the rate of infections, hospitalizations and intensive care unit capacity as well as vaccinations.
Newsom imposed the stay-at-home order in December as coronavirus cases allegedly 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.
The Greater Sacramento Region exited the order last week.
The state makes the 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 allegedly surged to 23% while the San Joaquin Valley increased to 1.3%, its first time above zero.
The huge Southern California region, the most populous, remains at zero ICU capacity.
Early last year, the state developed a system of color-coded tiers that dictated the level of restrictions on businesses and individuals based on virus conditions in each of California’s 58 counties.
Most counties will now go back to the most restrictive purple tier, which allows for outdoor dining, hair and nail salons to be open, and outdoor church services.
Bars that only serve beverages cannot be open.
The county-by-county tier system uses various metrics to determine the risk of community transmission and apply a color code — purple, red, orange or yellow — which correspond to widespread, substantial, moderate and minimal, respectively.
As of the weekend, California has had more than 3.1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 36,790 deaths, according to the state’s public health website.
Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.
