Gov Gavin Newsom orders bars and movie theaters to close and bans indoor dining while LA and San Diego school districts announce students will NOT return in the fall over surge in COVID-19 cases
Gov Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered bars to stop all operations and banned indoor restaurant dining statewide as the state's two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, announce that the new school year will begin online.
Newsom shared that due to alarming COVID-19 spread across California, the state will be closing indoor operations statewide for restaurants, wineries, movie theaters, family entertainment, zoos and museums.
'Bars must close ALL operations,' Newsom said as California's confirmed coronavirus cases increased to 329,162. At least 7,040 people in California have died from the virus.
The governor also said that as COVID-19 'cases and hospitalizations continue to rise', 30 counties will now be required to close indoor operations for some businesses.
Gov Gavin Newsom (pictured Monday) on Monday ordered bars to stop all operations and banned indoor restaurant dining statewide as the state's two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, announce that the new school year will begin online
'Bars must close ALL operations,' Newsom said as California's confirmed coronavirus cases increased to 329,162
Those include: fitness centers, places of worship, offices for non-critical sectors, personal care services, hair salons, barbershops and malls.
Newsom's move, which undoes weeks of reopening efforts in parts of the most populous US state, comes as several rural counties are experiencing strains to their hospital systems, while cases mount in large metropolitan areas including Los Angeles and parts of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The surge in cases has also prompted two of California's largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, to announce that they will be online only in the new term, which starts next month.
Los Angeles is the second-largest school district in the US and with San Diego has a combined 706,000 students and 88,000 employees.
The Los Angeles and San Diego districts said in a joint statement Monday that students will start the school year with online instruction only, but will plan for in-person learning as health conditions allow.
Los Angeles Unified, the nation's second-largest district with about 730,00 students, begins instruction on August 18.
San Diego Unified, which serves approximately 135,000 students, is set to start on August 31.
The districts cited research and information about school safety experiences from around the world as well as state and local health guidance.
President Donald Trump, seeking re-election in November, has demanded schools reopen nationwide for in-person learning in the autumn. His campaign views reopening schools as necessary for economic recovery, especially for working parents with young children.
Trump trails his presumptive Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, in opinion polls both nationwide and in swing states that decide elections.
The number of people hospitalized in California with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has risen by 28 per cent over the past two weeks, with a 20 per cent increase in those needing intensive care, Newsom said at a conference call with reporters in Sacramento.
Statewide, 6,485 patients were hospitalized with coronavirus as of Sunday, with 1,833 of them requiring intensive care, according to state data.
Meanwhile, Florida along with Arizona, California and Texas have emerged as the new US epicenters of the pandemic.
Infections have risen rapidly in about 40 of the 50 states over the last two weeks, according to a Reuters analysis.
On Sunday, Florida reported a record increase of more than 15,000 new cases of COVID-19 in 24 hours.
If Florida were a country, that would rank it fourth in the world for the most new cases in a day, behind the United States, Brazil and India, according to a Reuters analysis.
Newsom shared that due to alarming COVID-19 spread across California, the state will be closing indoor operations statewide for restaurants (file image), wineries, movie theaters, family entertainment, zoos and museums
The surge in cases has also prompted two of California's largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, to announce that they will be online only in the new term
One Florida doctor said the state's rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases is turning Miami into the 'epicenter of the pandemic'.
That assessment came as Florida recorded more than 12,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases Monday after a record-setting weekend.
The spike partly reflects the larger number of tests being performed, but also a high percentage of those returning positive.
While the outbreak has been spreading through much of the state, it has hit South Florida particularly hard.
Florida International University epidemiologist Dr Aileen Marty called the region's situation 'extremely grave'.
She says the public is not taking the virus seriously enough, ignoring rules on large gatherings, social distancing and wearing masks in public places.
Dr Lilian Abbo is the chief for infection prevention at Jackson Health System.
She described nurses and doctors working around the clock and some of them getting sick.
She added: 'Miami is now the epicenter of the pandemic. What we were seeing in Wuhan six months ago, now we are there.'
Abbo's chilling statement comes just months after New York City was once deemed the epicenter for the virus.
Despite nearly 28,000 new COVID-19 cases in the last two days, Florida has announced no new measures such as a statewide mask mandate, and Disney World in Orlando remains open for business.
Florida's Disney World welcomed the public on Saturday for the first time since March with guests required to wear masks, undergo temperature checks and keep physically apart.
Linda Stuart, 70, a lifelong resident of Orlando, Florida, said she and her family were staying at home except to go to the grocery and were 'painfully aware' how quickly cases are rising.
'But sadly, too many people aren't listening,' she said. 'This should be terrifying them, but it isn't. Not enough people are even wearing masks.'
The rise in Florida cases emerged hours after Trump took swipes at health experts in his government leading the US response to the pandemic and his relationship further frayed with infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci.
Fauci on Monday ascribed the surge in US coronavirus cases to the country's failure to shut down completely, then a rush to reopen too soon, and urged a commitment to guidelines to snuff out the disease.
He stressed basic protections including physical distancing, wearing masks, avoiding crowds and washing hands.
'Those things, as simple as they are, can turn it around. I think we can do that and that's what we've got to do,' he said.
Meanwhile, Florida (residents preparing to get testing on Monday) along with Arizona, California and Texas have emerged as the new US epicenters of the pandemic
Fauci, who has issued firm warnings during the coronavirus surge, encouraged states to follow specific guidelines put forth by White House coronavirus health experts laying out distinct phases for easing restrictions.
'We did not shut down entirely and that's the reason why when we went up,' Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview with Stanford Medicine.
'We started to come down and then we plateaued at a level that was really quite high - about 20,000 infections a day. Then as we started to reopen, we're seeing the surges that we're seeing today as we speak in California, your own state, in Arizona, in Texas, in Florida and several other states.'
Many US states began reopening their economies without meeting the criteria in the guidelines.
'Unfortunately, it did not work very well for us,' Fauci said, citing well publicized incidents of people crowding into bars or not wearing masks at close quarters.
Fauci said he was confident the US would get a handle on the virus 'if we step back, you don't necessarily need to shut down again, but pull back a bit, and then proceed in a very prudent way of observing the guidelines, of going from step to step'.
In Texas, top officials are calling for the city of Houston to lock back down as area hospitals strain to accommodate the onslaught of patients sick with coronavirus.
Texas has reported 258,100 cases and more than 3,100 people have died. Republican Gov Greg Abbott has resisted shutting down the state, saying it should be a last resort
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, both Democrats, said that a stay-at-home order is needed for America's fourth largest city to cope with the surge of COVID-19 cases. People wait in their cars to be tested at a site in Houston
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, both Democrats, said that a stay-at-home order is needed for America's fourth largest city to cope with the surge of COVID-19 cases.
'Not only do we need a stay home order now, but we need to stick with it this time until the hospitalization curve comes down, not just flattens,' Hidalgo said in a tweet.
'Many communities that persevered in that way are reopening for the long haul. Let's learn from that & not make the same mistake twice.'
The call comes after a week in which Texas continued to break records for confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths linked to the disease.
Texas has reported 258,100 cases and more than 3,100 people have died.
Republican Gov Greg Abbott has resisted shutting down the state, saying it should be a last resort.
Abbott led one of America’s swiftest reopenings following earlier closures in Texas. But in recent weeks, he reversed course amid rapidly climbing cases.
Ahead of Independence Day, the governor ordered bars to close back down and, after undercutting local leaders’ power to do so, required people to wear face coverings in public in much of the state.
On Friday, Abbott extended a statewide disaster order that warned Texans another shutdown might be needed if the virus’ spread isn’t contained.
He announced Sunday that the federal government will continue to fund large testing centers in Dallas and Houston through the end of July.
