COVID Restrictions: Alameda County May Adopt Newsom's Stay-At-Home Order Early
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Health officials in Alameda County on Thursday responded to Gov. Gavin Newsom's plan for a regional stay-at-home order, noting that the East Bay county might adopt the restrictions early to save lives.
County health officials released the statement in response to Newsom's newly announced plan to use availability of intensive care unit (ICU) beds to implement a Regional Stay-At-Home Order.
The new restrictions will be based on ICU capacity and tied to hospital regions. If a region falls below 15 percent available ICU capacity, it will get tougher restrictions with a three-week stay-at-home order.
According to Newsom, after the minimum three weeks, the order could be lifted if a region's projected ICU capacity meets or exceeds 15 percent. The region's projected ICU capacity would be reassessed weekly if it has not met that threshold after the third week.
The current ICU capacity projections for the different hospital regions in the state anticipate much of California will fall below the 15 percent ICU capacity within the next week, impacting greater Sacramento, Northern California, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California by early December.
Alameda County officials said in the statement that COVID-19 "has already impacted neighboring counties' hospitalizations," which impacts Alameda County as the county's hospitals provide bed space and aid to other overwhelmed hospital systems. Officials said conditions could lead the county to adopt the restrictions early.
"Although Alameda County's ICU capacity currently exceeds 15%, if this situation worsens, we may need to enact the State's Stay-at-Home restrictions before the Bay Area region meets the threshold in order to protect ICU bed availability and save lives," the release said.
Officials said once the stay-at-home order was implemented, it would impact the following sectors with temporary closures:
- Outdoor dining (take-out, pick-up, and delivery would still be permitted)
- 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 not included in critical infrastructure
- Amusement parks
The following sectors would need to implement additional modifications and restrictions as well as ensuring 100 percent masking and physical distancing:
- Outdoor recreational facilities: permitted only without any food, drink, or alcohol sales. Overnight stays at campgrounds prohibited.
- Retail and shopping centers: indoor operations permitted at 20% capacity with entrance metering and no eating or drinking in the stores. Special hours should be instituted for seniors and others with chronic conditions or compromised immune systems.
- Hotels and lodging: open for critical infrastructure support only.
- Offices: remote only, except for critical infrastructure sectors where remote working is not possible
- Places of worship and political expression: Outdoor services permitted
- Entertainment production including professional sports: operation permitted without live audiences.
The following sectors would remain open when a remote option is not possible with appropriate COVID-19 preventative measures including ensuring 100 percent masking and physical distancing:
- Critical infrastructure, as defined by the State
- Schools that are already open for in-person learning
- Non-urgent medical and dental care
- Childcare and pre-K
Alameda County is not currently accepting elementary (TK-6) school waivers in accordance with California's recommendations against school waivers in counties with case rates greater than 200 per 100,000 over 2 weeks -- or approximately 14 per 100,000 per day. Alameda County is currently above 16.