旧金山——加州大部分地区正处于对企业和活动实施新的全面限制的边缘，这是一种绝望的尝试，旨在减缓威胁到医院的冠状病毒病例惊人的快速上升。
随着新一轮封锁的临近，许多人周六冲进超市，在一些地区的订单于周日生效之前，在沙龙外排队挤进去理发。
旧金山湾区的五个县对其居民实施了一项新的居家命令，该命令将于周日生效。南加州和该州中部的一大片地区可能会在本周末加入。
这两个地区的重症监护室容量已低于15%的门槛，根据一项新的州居家命令，这将引发新的限制，禁止所有现场餐厅用餐、美发美甲沙龙、电影院和许多其他企业，以及博物馆和游乐场。
如果周六更新数据时，他们的产能仍低于这一水平，关闭将于周日生效，并至少持续三周。
在旧金山，居民迈克尔·杜兰索赶到一个市场，为新的关闭做准备。
“我只是在周日之前储备——基本的东西，面包，鸡蛋，”他告诉KGO-TV，手里拿着一个沉重的购物袋和一个法棍面包。
州长加文·纽瑟姆周四宣布了新计划。这是自他在3月份实施该国第一个全州居家规则以来最严格的命令。
新法令将该州分为五个地区，并以伊斯兰法院联盟的能力作为关闭的触发点。纽瑟姆还说，人们不可以和家庭以外的人聚集在一起，外出时必须戴口罩。
据加州公共卫生部报道，截至周五晚上，南加州11个县的重症监护室只有13.1%的床位可用。圣华金河谷地区的这一数字为14.1%，该地区由农业中心河谷的十几个县和内华达山脉的农村地区组成。
其他三个地区——大萨克拉门托、北加州和旧金山湾区——都在21%左右。
但是海湾地区11个县中的5个县的卫生官员没有等待。周五，他们通过了该州的居家命令。这些变化周日晚上开始在旧金山、圣克拉拉、马林、阿拉米达和康特拉科斯塔县以及伯克利市生效。
“我们认为我们不能等待该州的新限制生效。...“这是紧急情况，”康特拉科斯塔卫生官员克里斯·法尼塔诺说。
“我们一直以来最大的恐惧——当你或你的母亲或祖母或祖父生病时，我们没有床给他们——是我们将面临的现实，除非我们减缓传播，”旧金山市长伦敦·布里德说。
湾区的命令将至少持续到1月4日，比该州的时间表长一周，而且该州记录了创纪录的每日新病例数，达到22，018例。首次住院人数超过9000人，重症监护室患者达到创纪录的2152人。
新的关闭对小企业来说是一个痛苦的举动，这些企业在近一年的时间里一直在努力生存，他们多次被命令关闭，然后被允许重新开放，但采取了复杂的安全预防措施。
米歇尔·桑德斯·詹姆斯周五在奥克兰美甲店重新开张仅五周后，就想到要关闭它，不禁潸然泪下。
“我们戴(面罩)。我们测量体温。我们做所有我们被告知要做的事情，所以每个人都感到安全，包括我们的工作人员和团队，”她告诉KGO-TV。“所以我不明白为什么这还不够，我非常难过和害怕。”
根据纽森的订单，零售店和购物中心只能以20%的客户容量运营。
在东湾，伯克利碗店的两家杂货店已经储备了必需品，以防出现恐慌性购买，此前该州在3月中旬发布了严格的居家订单，后来这一订单得到了缓解。
“我们从上次学到了宝贵的经验，”总经理史蒂夫·津本告诉《旧金山纪事报》。“我们主动采取行动，一直在储存某些精选物品——卫生纸、消毒剂、抹布、豆类、大米、谷物、面粉、面包——这类物品。”
批评者说，广泛的全州秩序不公平地将太多不同的县合并成地区。
奥兰治县共和党主席弗雷德·惠特克(Fred M. Whitaker)表示，这种做法“使我们有能力与其他10个县重新开放，包括完全未能控制冠状病毒的洛杉矶县和人口最多的城市莫诺县，后者距离我们344英里”。
始于10月份的新冠肺炎传染病爆发式上升，主要归咎于人们忽视安全措施和与他人交往。
伯克利卫生官员丽莎·埃尔南德斯说，人们不应该与任何不和他们住在一起的人见面，“即使是在一个小组里，甚至在户外也要小心谨慎。”
“如果你有一个社会泡沫，它现在就破灭了，”埃尔南德斯说。"不要让这成为你和家人的最后一个假期。"
洛杉矶县是美国人口最多的县，有1000万居民，可以在几天内达到重症监护室的容量。洛杉矶市长埃里克·加希提说，这可能意味着患有中风和心脏病等其他威胁生命的疾病的人可能无法得到一张床。
市长说，到年底，仅这座城市就可能有超过11000人死于这种病毒。
“这意味着一个月内又有3000人死亡。从长远来看，这是十年的凶杀案，”加尔塞蒂说。“这是我们在洛杉矶面临的最大的生命威胁。”
在内陆的中央谷，弗雷斯诺县仅有150张重症监护室床位中的10张。卫生官员描述了一幅严峻的画面，由于冠状病毒感染和暴露，医院努力保持人员配备。急救医疗服务主任丹尼尔·林奇周五说，一家医院将重症监护室的病人留在急诊部，直到床位开放。
该县已经请求州政府提供几周的人员帮助。但是到目前为止，只有一两个额外的工人出现在三家当地医院，整个州都在为人员配备而挣扎。
首席护理官凯里·诺埃斯克(Keri Noeske)说，在图拉雷县维萨利亚的卡维亚三角洲医疗中心(Kaweah Delta medical center)，周五有18张重症监护室(ICU)床位，但只有工作人员处理另外四名患者。因为新冠肺炎，大约125名员工生病或被隔离。
California on the brink: Virus rages and closures imminent
SAN FRANCISCO -- Much of California is on the brink of sweeping new restrictions on businesses and activities, a desperate attempt to slow the frighteningly rapid escalation of coronavirus cases that threatens to overwhelm hospitals.
With a new lockdown looming, many rushed out to supermarkets Saturday and lined up outside salons to squeeze in a haircut before the orders in some areas take effect on Sunday.
Five San Francisco Bay Area counties imposed a new stay-at-home order for their residents that will take effect Sunday. Southern California and a large swath of the central portion of the state could join this weekend.
Those two regions have seen their intensive care unit capacity fall below the 15% threshold that under a new state stay-at-home order will trigger new restrictions barring all on-site restaurant dining and close hair and nail salons, movie theaters and many other businesses, as well as museums and playgrounds.
If their capacity remains below that level when the data is updated Saturday, the closures will take effect Sunday and stay in effect at least three weeks.
In San Francisco, resident Michael Duranceau rushed to a market to prepare for the new closures.
“I'm just stocking up before Sunday — the basics, bread, eggs," he told KGO-TV, clutching a heavy grocery bag and a baguette.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the new plan Thursday. It is the most restrictive order since he imposed the country's first statewide stay-at-home rule in March.
The new order divides the state into five regions and uses ICU capacity as the trigger for closures. Newsom also says people may not congregate with anyone outside their household and must always wear masks when they go outside.
As of Friday night, the 11-county Southern California region had only 13.1% of its ICU beds available, the California Department of Public Health reported. The figure was 14.1% for the San Joaquin Valley region, composed of a dozen counties in the agricultural Central Valley and rural areas of the Sierra Nevada.
The other three regions — Greater Sacramento, Northern California and San Francisco Bay Area — were all around 21%.
But health officers in five of the Bay Area's 11 counties didn’t wait. On Friday, they adopted the state's stay-at-home order. The changes begin to take effect Sunday night in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Marin, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, as well as the city of Berkeley.
“We don’t think we can wait for the state’s new restrictions to go into effect. ... This is an emergency,” Contra Costa Health Officer Chris Farnitano said.
“Our biggest fear all along — that we won’t have a bed for you or your mother or your grandmother or grandfather when they get sick — is the reality we’ll be facing unless we slow the spread,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said.
The Bay Area order will last at least through Jan. 4, a week longer than the state's timeline, and came as the state recorded another daily record number of new cases with 22,018. Hospitalizations topped 9,000 for first time and ICU patients were at a record 2,152.
The new shutdowns were a gut-wrenching move for small businesses that have struggled to survive over nearly a year in which they were repeatedly ordered to close, then allowed to reopen but with complex safety precautions.
Michelle Saunders James was in tears Friday at the thought of closing down her Oakland nail salon just five weeks after reopening it.
“We wear (face) shields. We take temperatures. We do everything we are told to do so everyone feels safe, including our staff and team,” she told KGO-TV. “So I don’t understand why it’s not enough and I’m terribly sad and afraid.”
Under Newsom’s order, retail stores and shopping centers can operate with just 20% customer capacity.
In the East Bay, Berkeley Bowl’s two grocery stores already had laid in stocks of essentials in case of a return of panic buying that was seen after the state issued a strict stay-at-home order in mid-March that later was eased.
“We’ve learned valuable lessons from last time,” general manager Steve Tsujimoto told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We acted proactively and have been warehousing certain select items — toilet paper, sanitizers, wipes, beans, rice, grains, flour, bread — things of that nature.”
Critics say the broad statewide order unfairly lumps too many disparate counties together into regions.
The approach “places our ability to reopen with 10 other counties including Los Angeles County which has absolutely failed to control the coronavirus and Mono County whose most populous city is 344 miles away,” said Fred M. Whitaker, chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County.
The explosive rise in COVID-19 infections that began in October is being blamed largely on people ignoring safety measures and socializing with others.
Berkeley Health Officer Lisa Hernandez said people should not meet in person with anyone they don’t live with, “even in a small group, and even outdoors with precautions.”
“If you have a social bubble, it is now popped,” Hernandez said. “Do not let this be the last holiday with your family.”
Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous with 10 million residents, could reach ICU capacity within days. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that could mean people with other life-threatening illnesses, such as strokes and heart attacks, might be unable to get a bed.
The city alone could see more than 11,000 lives lost to the virus by year’s end, the mayor said.
“That means 3,000 additional deaths in a single month. To put that in perspective, it’s a decade of homicides,” Garcetti said. “This is the greatest threat to life in Los Angeles that we have ever faced.”
In the inland Central Valley, Fresno County had just 10 of its 150 ICU beds available. Health officials described a grim picture with hospitals struggling to stay staffed because of coronavirus infections and exposures. One hospital is holding ICU patients in the emergency department until beds open up, Emergency Medical Services Director Daniel Lynch said Friday.
The county has requested help from the state with staffing for a couple of weeks. But so far only one or two additional workers have shown up at three local hospitals as the whole state struggles with staffing.
At Kaweah Delta medical center in Visalia, in Tulare County, there were 18 ICU beds available Friday but only the staff to handle four additional patients, said Keri Noeske, the chief nursing officer. Some 125 employees are out sick or quarantined because of COVID-19.
