Orange County officials announced on Monday that the Southern California Region dropped below the 15 percent Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity thereby triggering the state of California’s “Regional Stay-at-Home Order” as was announced on December 3, 2020 by Governor Gavin Newsom.
Accordingly, the Event News Enterprise will again offer its free “Still here, still open” listing for all affected businesses in the communities we serve (see inside).
As a result, Orange County residents – along with residents of the other 10 Southern California Region counties comprising approximately half of California’s 40 million residents as designated in the state’s Regional Stay-at-Home Order – will be required to stay at home as much as possible and not mix with other households to reduce exposure.
The order was effective 11:59 p.m. Dec. 6 due to regional ICU capacity reaching 12.5 percent. The current ICU capacity in Orange County is 18.1 percent.
As a result of the state’s Regional Stay-at-Home Order, all Southern California Region counties including Orange County must close the following sectors:
•Indoor and Outdoor Playgrounds
•Indoor Recreational Facilities
•Hair Salons and Barbershops
•Personal Care Services
•Museums, Zoos, and Aquariums, Movie Theaters
•Wineries
•Bars, Breweries, and Distilleries
•Family Entertainment Centers
•Cardrooms and Satellite Wagering
•Limited Services
•Live Audience Sports
•Amusement Parks
The following sectors in the Southern California Region will have additional modifications in addition to 100 percent masking and physical distancing:
•Outdoor Recreational Facilities: Allow outdoor operation only without any food, drink or alcohol sales. Additionally, overnight stays at campgrounds will not be permitted.
•Retail: Allow indoor operation at 20 percent capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
•Shopping Centers: Allow indoor operation at 20 percent capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Additionally, special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
Hotels and Lodging: Allow to open for critical infrastructure support only.
•Restaurants: Allow only for take-out, pick-up or delivery.
•Offices: Allow remote only except for critical infrastructure sectors where remote working is not possible.
•Places of Worship: Allow outdoor services only.
•Entertainment Production including Professional Sports: Allow operation without live audiences. Additionally, testing protocol and “bubbles” are highly encouraged.
The state Stay-at-Home Order does not modify existing state guidance regarding K-12 schools.
The following sectors are allowed to remain open in the Southern California Region when a remote option is not possible with appropriate infectious disease preventative measures including masking and physical distancing:
•Critical infrastructure
•Non-urgent medical and dental care
•Childcare and pre-K
The Southern California Region will remain in the Regional Stay-at-Home Order status for at least three weeks. The Southern California Region may come out of the Stay-at- Home Order after three weeks, if at that time, hospital ICU capacity projected four weeks out reaches 15 percent. Then individual counties such as Orange County will return to our Blueprint for a Safer Economy tier determined by their case rate and test positivity. If the ICU capacity for the Southern California Region is less than 15 percent after the three-week period, the ICU capacity will be assessed weekly to determine when the order can be lifted.
In addition, the state’s Stay-at-Home Order will place the following restrictions on counties in the Southern California Region on non-essential travel lodging:
•Except as otherwise required by law, no hotel or lodging entity in California shall accept or honor out of state reservations for non-essential travel, unless the reservation is for at least the minimum time period required for quarantine and the persons identified in the reservation will quarantine in the hotel or lodging entity until after that time period has expired.
During this time, the state Stay-at-Home order encourages members of the same household are to maintain physical and mental health by safely going to a park, hike, walk or bike ride when safe to do so and socially distanced. Orange County residents are also encouraged to keep connected with loved ones virtually.
For more information, visit the state’s COVID-19 website.