SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Strict coronavirus guidelines will linger into a new year for millions of California residents.
As predicted, state health officials on Tuesday extended a stay-at-home order in Southern and Central California for at least the next three weeks due to an ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases during the holiday season.
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said the lockdown orders will remain in place until available intensive care unit projections were above or equal to 15%.
As of Tuesday, the ICU bed availability rate was 0% in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom warned residents of the impacted 11 counties that the strict lockdown orders were "likely" to be.