California extends regional stay-at-home order. Here’s what that means in SLO County
The regional stay-at-home order will continue for the foreseeable future, the state announced Tuesday, although San Luis Obispo County might escape from the order sooner than some of its Southern California counterparts.
The Southern California region, which includes San Luis Obispo County, will remain under the stay-at-home order because intensive care unit capacity has not improved in the region, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said at a news conference Tuesday.
This means restaurants will continue to be closed for all but takeout dining, gatherings between separate households are prohibited and a range of other businesses will stay closed or have to operate outdoors.
Ghaly said the state will continue to reevaluate the ICU capacity numbers and the order on a weekly basis.
The original stay-at-home order, which went into effect on Dec. 6, was scheduled to lapse on Monday, but Gov. Gavin Newsom at a press conference said it was unlikely the order would be lifted in the region since intensive care unit capacity has not lifted above the original 15% trigger.
As of Tuesday, the ICU capacity for the Southern California region remained at 0%, where it has stayed for more than a week.
Central Coast wants to form separate ICU capacity-based region
Soon after the Southern California region fell under the stay-at-home order, a trio of Central Coast counties announced plans to petition the state to form their own region separate from the more populous, and seemingly harder-hit, metropolitan areas of Southern California.
San Luis Obispo, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties said Dec. 7 that they would petition the state to form a smaller region if, after three weeks, their ICU capacity was above the 15% trigger.
As of Tuesday, 23 of San Luis Obispo County’s 53 ICU beds were still available, meaning about 43% of beds were open — putting the county well above the 15% mark.
Though ICU capacity is below the trigger, local hospitalization numbers have been climbing.
As of Tuesday, 59 people were being treated at local hospitals for coronavirus, the most at one time since the outbreak began in March, according to data from the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department.
Twelve of those COVID-19 patients are in ICUs — another local record.
According to the county Public Health Department, 36 San Luis Obispo County residents had died from coronavirus in December as of Tuesday — meaning that roughly 45% of all local coronavirus deaths occurred in a simple month.
“This pandemic is taking a human toll here in SLO County and we need every single person to do everything you can to stop the surge and protect the lives of those around us,” county Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein said in a news release. “Remember, wear your mask in public, keep your distance from others, stay home when you’re sick, and don’t intermingle with other households.”
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