California under shelter-in-place order

The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, announced Thursday evening that the state is officially under lockdown with a shelter-in-place order. This decision was made in response to the state having 675 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 16 deaths. Newsom estimated that over the next eight weeks, “56 percent of Californians could come down with COVID-19,” according to Newsweek. Newsom’s estimation, however, did not account for the efforts made to slow down the spread of the virus.

As of Friday morning, there is no timeline installed for how long the lockdown will last.

This order, which Newsom called the “safer-at-home” order, is mandatory, keeping the 40 million people living in the state indoors for the foreseeable future. Newsom did make the concession that “residents will be able to leave their homes for exercise and for essential needs.”

Even if California residents wanted to get out of their homes to visit the local coffee shop or book store every now and again, they will be unable to do so, as “all non-essential businesses” will shutter their doors. The majority of the businesses to remain open during the lockdown will be grocery stores, banks, and pharmacies. Newsom did say that certain restaurants will remain open, but only in the form of delivery or take-out. Marijuana dispensaries are still open, as they are qualified as essential.

But some residents are a bit concerned with the finer points of Newsom’s decision to lockdown the entire state. One person on Twitter wrote that the “lockdown last night wasn’t very clear as far as what is an essential business, so there is confusion on that. Also it has disrupted the school district lunch & home device roll out.”

The National Guard is set to help with the distribution of food, “acting in a purely humanitarian manner.” It remains to be seen how efficient and fast the National Guard will be in getting food to all residents in need.

There was also no indication that Newsom had a specific plan in place for those who have bills to pay, but cannot due to the lockdown. Unless California decides to suspend all rent and monthly bills, residents are not going to have a way to pay their bills if their job is considered non-essential.

Violations of the order are said to come with a penalty of $1,000 and up to six months in prison, but Newsom qualified these repercussions by saying that “he does not plan to have police enforce the order.”

Some have made the prediction that Martial Law is going to come down on the entire country—California being the testing ground.

The state has the fifth-largest economy in the world, just behind Germany and ahead of India. Newsom’s lockdown strategy is an effort to keep its citizens safe, but residents are concerned as to how to pay bills and care for their families without a steady income.