State of California—Health and Human Services Agency
California Department of Public Health
SANDRA SHEWRY, MPH,MSW GAVIN NEWSOM
Acting Director Governor
ERICA S. PAN, MD,MPH
Acting State Health Officer
Regional Stay At Home Order
12/03/2020
Upon assessment of the recent, unprecedented rise in the rate of increase in COVID-19
cases, hospitalizations, and test positivity rates across California, the California
Department of Public Health (CDPH) is taking immediate actions to prevent the spread
of the virus.
The State, like the nation, continues to record an unprecedented surge in the level of
community spread of COVID-19. California implemented an accelerated application of
the Blueprint Framework metrics on November 16 and a limited Stay at Home Order
issued on November 19. However, in the interim, the number of new cases per day has
increased by over 112%, (from 8,743 to 18,588) and the rate of rise of new cases per day
continues to increase dramatically. The number of new hospital admissions has increased
from 777 on November 15, to 1,651 on December 2, and because of the lag between
case identification and hospitalizations, we can only expect these numbers to increase.
Current projections show that without additional intervention to slow the spread of COVID-
19, the number of available adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds in the State of California
will be at capacity in mid-December. This is a sign that the rate of rise in cases, if it
continues, is at risk of overwhelming the ability of California hospitals to deliver healthcare
to its residents suffering from COVID-19 and from other illnesses requiring hospital care.
ICU beds are a critical resource for individuals who need the most advanced support and
care and the ability to add additional ICU capacity is limited by the lack of available ICU
nurses and physicians as a result of the nationwide surge in hospitalizations and ICU
admissions.
Because the rate of increases in new cases continues to escalate and threatens to
overwhelm the state’s hospital system, further aggressive action is necessary to respond
to the quickly evolving situation. While vaccines are promising future interventions, they
are not available to address the immediate risks to healthcare delivery in the current
surge. The immediate aggressive institution of additional non-pharmaceutical public
health interventions is critical to avoid further overwhelming hospitals and to prevent the
need to ration care.
CDPH, MS 500 ● P.O. Box 997377 ● Sacramento, CA 95899-7377
(916) 558-1784
Department Website (www.cdph.ca.gov)