Monterey County will be under the new state stay-at-home order as of 10pm, Sunday, Dec. 13, until at least Monday, Jan. 11, Health Officer Edward Moreno announced at the Monterey County Board of Supervisors meeting Wednesday, Dec. 9. The supervisors unanimously approved Moreno's decision immediately after the announcement.
The move comes ahead of the state's regional plan, which requires regions—Monterey County is part of the Bay Area Region—to impose restrictions if ICU capacity falls below 15 percent.
"It appears our ICU capacity is trending worse than the region is and it looks like it is trending down to fewer and fewer beds available," Moreno told reporters in a briefing call after the board meeting, explaining his reason for imposing the restrictions.
Moreno said he chose the end of the weekend to give businesses time to make purchasing and staffing decisions ahead of the restrictions taking effect. He initially was going to give them 72 hours notice, but that fell on Saturday, in the middle of the weekend.
In some ways it takes Monterey County residents back to the original shelter-in-place orders, with key exceptions. For example, any school currently open with a waiver may remain open. And contrary to March, when non-essential retail businesses were forced to shut, they are allowed to remain open as long as they limit capacity in the store to 20 percent. Grocery stores are limited to 35 percent. (The state's list of definitions of essential workers is viewable here.)
Moreno explained that public health officials know more now than they did at the start of the pandemic. There's evidence that decreasing the number of customers inside a business significantly reduces the risk of transmission, for example.
Restaurants go back to the way things were in March. All in-person dining will be shuttered until the order is lifted, including outdoor dining, leaving only take-out and deliveries. The reason for the temporary ban on outdoor dining comes because people from different households are gathering in one area are removing their face coverings for extended periods of time, Moreno said. The practice increases the risk of transmission. He said once case rates go back down it could lead to the return of outdoor dining.
Bars—which have been allowed to remain open as long as they serve food—will have to close under the new order. Also forced to close will be any personal care services like hair and nail salons, as well as gyms.
Also not allowed through the holiday season is gathering with people from other households and all non-essential travel.
"We need to preserve hospital beds that any one of us could need at any moment from trauma that befalls us," Moreno said. "We also to support our health care workers who are working extremely hard in these hospitals."
As for fully reopening impacted businesses, he said it's up to the public and how well they follow the restrictions.
"I hope that all of us will realize that this time, if we’re going to reduce transmission and reduce fatalities, is to follow the same recommendations that have been in place for some time now," he said.
Moreno's move came as no surprise after doctors from all four hospitals in Monterey County gave a dire report to the supervisors on Tuesday. They said that in effect, the hospitals are full and they are just now seeing cases from people who were exposed over Thanksgiving.
On Wednesday afternoon, in a separate county briefing call ahead of the Board of Supervisors meeting, the doctors spoke to reporters and underscored that while hospitals are impacted, people should not put off care if they are having symptoms for any sort of ailment. They also should not put off routine care like vaccinations for children or treatments for chronic illnesses. Robert Valladares, chief medical officer for Mee Memorial Hospital in King City, assured people that hospitals are safer than grocery shopping due to rigorous safety protocols.
The stay-at-home order for Monterey County comes after several San Francisco Bay Area counties had already imposed the order in their jurisdictions ahead of the state's schedule under its the regional plan.
More information about the state's stay-at-home order is available here.