COVID-19 Update: California Government Announcement

By: LATF Staff Member
Lifestyle
March 12, 2020, 6:35 pm

Governor Gavin Newsom addressed California State on local news stating the following:

To protect public health and slow the rate of transmission of COVID-19, gatherings as described below should bepostponed or canceled across the state of California for at least the remainderof the month of March.

The California Department of Public Health finds the following:

Large gatherings that include 250 people or moreshould be postponed or canceled.oThis includes gatherings such as concerts, conferences, and professional,college,and school sporting events.
Smaller gatherings held in venues that do not allow social distancing of six feet per personshould be postponed or canceled. oThis includes gatherings in crowded auditoriums, rooms or other venues.
Gatherings ofindividualswho are at higher risk for severeillness from COVID-19 shouldbe limited to no more than 10 people. oThis includes gatherings such as those at retirement facilities, assisted living facilities, developmental homes, and support groups for people with health conditions.
A “gathering” is any event or convening that brings together people in a single room or single space at the same time, such as an auditorium, stadium, arena, large conference room, meeting hall, cafeteria, or any other indoor or outdoor space. This applies to all non-essential professional, social, and community gatherings regardless of their sponsor.
Gatherings that do not meet the aforementioned criteria should only be conducted when they are essential—that is, if the activityis essential and could not be postponed or achieved without gathering, meaning that some other means of communication could not be used to conduct the essential function.

What will this achieve?

The timely implementation of aggressive strategies that create social distance and those that reduce close contact of people not regularly together, including limiting gatherings, has proveneffective in prior pandemics at delaying rates of transmission and reducing illness and death.