California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a mandatory “stay at home” order to all residents, shuttering all businesses beyond “critical sectors” while suggesting the state’s hospitals could soon hit their breaking point.
“Everyone is required to stay home except to get food, care for a relative or friend, get necessary health care, or go to an essential job,” reads a statement on California’s coronavirus response website, issued following Newsom's order. “If you go out, keep at least 6 feet of distance.”
Newsom expressed concern during a presser on Thursday night that tens of thousands of patients could soon swarm California’s hospitals as the disease rapidly spreads across the state, putting healthcare facilities far beyond capacity. He earlier projected that some 56 percent of the state’s residents – or over 25 million people – could contract the illness within eight weeks’ time.
More than 1,000 Californians have contracted the coronavirus, with 18 deaths, as fatalities nationwide soar to over 200, out of more than 14,000 confirmed cases. The disease toll has climbed rapidly over the last week in the US, with thousands of new infections emerging in the space of a few days.
Also on rt.com Convoy of Italian army trucks haul away corpses as local crematorium flooded with coronavirus dead (VIDEO)The governor has now called on US President Donald Trump to deploy a Navy hospital vessel, the USNS Mercy, suggesting it be docked at a port in Los Angeles to help the sprawling metropolis keep up with the influx of new patients.
As the new sweeping travel restrictions were announced in California, administration officials in Washington are mulling a closure of the US-Mexico border to stem the transmission of the illness, which could be announced as early as Friday, according to Reuters. The decision would mirror an earlier move to close the border between the US and Canada to nonessential travel announced on Wednesday.
Also on rt.com Slavoj Zizek: Biggest threat Covid-19 epidemic poses is not our regression to survivalist violence, but BARBARISM with human faceThink your friends would be interested? Share this story!
Source : RT - Daily news
California governor issues mandatory STAY AT HOME order, projects 56% of population infected with coronavirus in 8 weeks
California governor issues mandatory STAY AT HOME order, projects 56% of population infected with coronavirus in 8 weeks
