Sarah Banholzer

December 29, 2020

County Stay-At-Home Order Extension

On Tuesday, California’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly, announced
that California will be extending stay-at-home orders for the Southern California Region, which
includes San Luis Obispo County.

This extension follows Governor Gavin Newsom’s regional stay-at-home order, which began on
Dec. 6 and was set to expire on Monday. However, projections of the next four weeks had
Southern California Region’s ICU capacity remaining below 15% and resulted in the order being
extended, according to a SLO County Press Release.

Stay-at-home orders will remain in SLO County until the region’s projected ICU capacity
reaches or surpasses 15%. According to the county press release, state officials will be
assessing the region’s ICU capacity about twice a week.

Similar to previous stay-at-home orders, SLO County residents are instructed to stay at home as
much as possible under this extended order in hopes of slowing the spread of COVID-19 and
preventing an overflow in ICU capacity.

All restaurants will continue to be prohibited from offering dine-in services and retail can
continue to stay open with a 20% maximum capacity.

In addition, residents are discouraged to interact in-person with people outside of their
households. Essential services and outdoor activities are still permitted to allow for both the
physical and mental well-being of the California residents.

COVID-19 cases in SLO County have grown exceedingly in the month of December and the
number of hospitalizations have grown alongside it. SLO County health officials predict that the
county’s total COVID-19 cases count will reach 10,000 cases by the end of December.

SLO County reported its largest number of hospitalized cases today at 59 hospitalizations,
including 12 ICU cases, according to the county press release.

Even as the county’s cases and hospitalizations grow, SLO County’s ICU capacity remains
significantly higher than the rest of the Southern California Region, according to the county
press release.

Due to this disparity, local officials have argued that the state should create a new Central Coast
Region of the state to include Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, according to the county
press release. If created, this new California region would omit SLO County from the Southern
California Region, likely improving the county’s chances of re-opening.