COVID Surge: California Sends Emergency Alert Urging Bay Area Residents To Stay Home
SACRAMENTO -- The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) sent out a mobile phone emergency alert across the Bay Area on Friday urging residents to stay home except for essential activities.
The alert comes as the Bay Area region shows hospital ICU capacity dropping below 15%, triggering a mandatory stay-home order across the region.
CalOES emphasized the phone alert, sent at noon on Friday, was informational only and people who receive wireless alerts should not contact law enforcement or call 9-1-1.
The alert read: "State of California: All Bay Area Counties now under state stay at home order. This builds on previous local orders. COVID-19 is spreading rapidly. Stay home except for essential activity. Wear a mask. Keep your distance. Visit covid19.ca.gov."
The message was also sent out in Spanish: "Estado de CA: Todos los condados del area de la bahia estan bajo la orden estatal de permanecer en casa. Esto amplia las ordenes locales anteriores. COVID-19 se esta propagando rapidamente. Quedate en casa, excepto para la actividad esencial. Usa mascarilla. Manten tu distancia. Visite covid19.ca.gov."
The text messages was sent to residents in the counties of: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma.
The Bay Area's regional stay-home order went into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, December 17, 2020, and was to last for at least three weeks.
The sectors affected by the stay-home order include bars, breweries, distilleries, and wineries (except for production, manufacturing, and retail), hair salons and barbershops, and personal care services. In addition, a number of sectors in these regions, including restaurants, retail and shopping centers and hotels and lodging, will have additional modifications in addition to 100% masking and physical distancing.
Critical infrastructure, schools and non-urgent medical and dental care can remain open with appropriate infectious disease preventative measures.
