Millions of people in California could be looking at another COVID-19 stay-at-home order. Governor Gavin Newsom made that announcement during a Thursday briefing. The state is being broken into five regions, and the order will begin 48 hours after the available intensive care unit beds falls below 15 percent of total capacity. The lockdown would last for at least three weeks.
Watch the full Thursday briefing below.
Four regions are expected to reach the ICU benchmark in just the next few days, but not the San Francisco Bay Area. That region could hold on until the middle of the month.
About 99 percent of California's population is in the most restrictive Purple Tier as part of the State's plan for a safe reopening of the economy and schools during the pandemic. Health officials say not only is California's COVID positivity rate now up to seven percent, but they also not it has doubled in the last four weeks. Purple Tier counties already face an overnight curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.