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United States Government Medicine

California Governor Issues Statewide Order To 'Stay At Home' To Prevent Spread of the Coronavirus (cnbc.com) 418

All residents in the state of California are being ordered to "stay at home" to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. "We need to bend the curve in the state of California," Governor Gavin Newsom said in a press conference. "There's a social contract here, people I think recognize the need to do more. They will adjust and adapt as they have." Newsom added: "Home isolation is not my preferred choice... but it is a necessary one. This is not a permanent state, it is a moment in time."

As of publication, 19 people in California have died and another 958 have tested positive for the disease. "The state projects that 25.5 million people in California will be infected with the coronavirus over an eight-week period," reports Los Angeles Times, citing a letter Newsom sent to President Trump on Wednesday. Newsom is requesting $1 billion in federal funds to support the state's medical response to the virus. He's also requesting the deployment of the U.S. Navy's Mercy Hospital Ship to the Port of Los Angeles through Sept. 1.

"The economic disruption caused by this public health crisis will have immediate and devastating effects on our entire country, including too many families in California," Newsom wrote. "The magnitude of this crisis is extraordinary and federal-state-local government coordination will be more critical than ever before."
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California Governor Issues Statewide Order To 'Stay At Home' To Prevent Spread of the Coronavirus

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  • The pilot project has been running in the Bay Area for a few days now, and itâ(TM)s working well enough. No societal collapse. People are being remarkably civil.

    We can figure out a solution for the rent/mortgage problem before the end of the month, Iâ(TM)m sure, and it will be easier to do when itâ(TM)s the state as a whole instead of county by county.

    New York is what Iâ(TM)m worried about.

    • Yeah... but how long can people take it? I do my “therapy swim” in the ocean every day, but staying inside constantly would drive me nuts.

      We have scaled back social interactions (starting point is as an introvert) for over a week, but it is very hard for some people. If you ask them to do it for too long then there will be ramifications.

      • No one is being ordered to stay inside constantly. The bay area order specifically encourages people to go outside and get some exercise if they want, just keep your distance from others who are not family.

    • We can figure out a solution for the rent/mortgage problem before the end of the month, Iâ(TM)m sure, and it will be easier to do when itâ(TM)s the state as a whole instead of county by county.

      Mortgages won't be too hard to deal with Some are already moving before they are pushed [newsthud.com]
      The fed can require them to help out as part of the soon to be needed deal that will keep them solvent.
      Private rent will be much more complicated though...

  • by PeeAitchPee ( 712652 ) on Thursday March 19, 2020 @11:21PM (#59851632)
    This means everyone in CA except for rich techies is unable to work. That means they're likely laid off indefinitely. That means they have no income. Is California really going to start paying for everyone's food and shelter (meaning mortgage or rent)? Utility bills? How about credit card balances -- is the state going to force people into more debt by forbidding them to work? I'm not sure this works unless the entire economy is frozen for the duration and the government (including the Feds) picks up the tab for basic living expenses and ensures that people can't slip into debt.
    • by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Thursday March 19, 2020 @11:43PM (#59851668) Homepage
      Our society is broken when people go hungry and homeless just because they could not work/slave for a month. Especially if it is a full time job.

      This is going to be a hard lesson for many living paycheck to paycheck or not having a rainy day fund.
      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by PeeAitchPee ( 712652 )
        Will it be a hard lesson too for the State Legislature / Governor of California and the insane taxes and cost of living they inflict upon CA residents?
        • Who voted in the politicians that created insane taxes, and then let it keep happening. Act like sheep get treated like sheep.

          -Complacency is bad. We the people are sheep. Baaaa.
        • by Baki ( 72515 ) on Friday March 20, 2020 @03:29AM (#59852168)

          No it will be a lesson to the USA as a whole, that countries with more solidarity and a less raw market economy, copy better with such issues at a large scale, than countries that are full of egoists that only think of how to get rich at the cost of others.

      • A month? Credible estimates go up to eighteen months before there is a vaccine. Several countries including Japan are reporting reinfections. If you can be reinfected then it's not going to be safe to stop sheltering in place until a vaccine has been developed and distributed, or everyone not naturally immune is dead, whichever comes first.

        We have no plan for this. And it's taking long enough to develop one that lives are being lost.

        I want to stay home, but I can't afford to. I have to work. A thousand buck

  • by kiviQr ( 3443687 ) on Thursday March 19, 2020 @11:27PM (#59851642)
    Everyone else is watching exponential growth curve and waiting for their turn. Reminder if we had shut down the whole country (entry points, planes, stay in home) a month ago we would be done with pandemic in US and back to business. Now it will take months to recover.
    • by labnet ( 457441 )

      Rubbish. The pandemic can only be stopped one there is a vaccine or herd immunity. Premature shutdown just kicks the can down the road.
      The USA has handled this crisis abysmally.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 )
        So explain declining active cases in China.
        • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Friday March 20, 2020 @01:36AM (#59851978) Homepage Journal

          Is that really a thing? Or is it just what they're telling us?

          It's impossible to know at this time because China's government lies so much.

          That's not unique, but it is relevant.

          • by khchung ( 462899 )

            Is that really a thing? Or is it just what they're telling us?

            It's impossible to know at this time because China's government lies so much.

            That's not unique, but it is relevant.

            Keep saying that to delude yourself into thinking the problem cannot be solved thus you do not need do anything.

            Everywhere the virus was spreading without hard lockdown, the number of known cases grew by a factor of 10 every 8 days. So after 40 days, it would have grown by a factor of 100,000.

            So what, you may say. That means even if China had an unknown infected population of, say, 15k (a fraction of the reported 80k cases), then after 40 days, it would grow to 1.5 billion, more than their entire populati

            • That's not what I said, but keep trying.

              I can believe that China's methods are helping, but I don't trust their numbers.

              Nor would anyone who pays attention.

          • How about South Korea and Japan then? Isn't it simpler to accept declining cases than to believe everyone is lying?
        • by dryeo ( 100693 )

          A totalitarian government that can force its citizens into quarantine, including breaking up families.

    • by spitzak ( 4019 )

      No, if the ports of entry had been shut down then it would *delay* the pandemic. Eventually it would get in and you would be in the current situation. It would have been helpful to delay it however, so it was not simultaneous in many countries, so you are correct that closing things (including not allowing any expat Americans back in) would have helped.

  • by PeeAitchPee ( 712652 ) on Thursday March 19, 2020 @11:45PM (#59851676)
    Sadly (happily?) we will never see awesome air quality stats from the LA Basin and similar CA metro areas like this ever again -- not in any of our lifetimes anyway, unless there's another pandemic or similar event. What an awesome once-in-a-career event for the folks at NOAA and NASA . . . would love to hear some details about what they're seeing.
    • Sadly (happily?) we will never see awesome air quality stats from the LA Basin and similar CA metro areas like this ever again -- not in any of our lifetimes anyway

      Nah, once electric cars become popular, we'll have similar air quality levels on most days, and it will be great.

    • I gotta say - before I shifted to full-time telework a couple days ago, my Seattle-area commutes were like nothing I've ever seen (even going back to the 1980s recession). I drove 40-odd miles to and from UW at the speed limit or better.

  • Easy for him to say (Score:4, Interesting)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Friday March 20, 2020 @12:17AM (#59851776) Homepage Journal

    He's going to keep going to work and getting paid. He's got a home. I need to go to work to get paid. And I'm living in an Airbnb while trying to find a place to live. And if I can't work then I don't have enough income for that because there's a housing shortage in California, partly because of fires, partly because cities won't approve sufficiently high-density housing, and partly because of... Airbnbs. So what am I supposed to do, bend over and vanish up my own asshole?

    I'll shelter in place as soon as either my work closes down which isn't going to happen until we're forced to do so at gunpoint (and we're a repair facility which was exempted by our county's shelter in place order) or Gavin arranges for me to be paid my full wages while the order is in effect, not some pathetic fraction that UI would give me. I can't afford to do anything else. You can blame me all you want, but I didn't invent this shit system. I've opposed it consistently. Even when I've made good money I've voted for candidates who supported social safety nets.

    Your system doesn't work for me, so fuck you, I won't do what you tell me, motherfucker.

    Make it work for me and I'll play along. Newsom claims he's seeking funding to provide that kind of assistance. That should have been done BEFORE this order, not after.

    It's just another unfunded mandate.

    • Your system doesn't work for me, so fuck you, I won't do what you tell me, motherfucker.

      I mean, great, but where are you going to go? I was hanging out in libraries until those closed, coffee shops until those closed. I could go sit in a park or stand in a meadow, but it's been raining. There's just nothing to do. I do a daily walk to Target to Safeway, but I don't want to be there either. Nothing.

      • My employer isn't going to shut down until forced. He can't afford to pay me to not work. I can't live on unemployment. So I'm going to go to work as long as I can, until someone stops me personally, or shuts it down, or pays me what I make at work to not go to work. I'm not going to go to speakeasys or whatever, I'm not going out for fun. If I could afford to, I'd rather stay home. But I'm not in that position, and no amount of hopes and dreams will make it so.

        Most Americans can't come up with $400 in an e

      • You could start playing WoW again!!

  • Maybe if these giant companies in California would actually PAY Federal taxes, they would be entitled to Federal aid.

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