Gov. Newsom extends California's extreme lockdown restrictions into the new year

On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom extended the regional stay-at-home order for Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. Mandatory limitations on businesses and activities will remain in place in response to spiking COVID cases in the state.

Calif. Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said in a COVID-19 briefing that "The current orders will remain until ICU capacity projections are above or equal to fifteen percent," he said.

Ghaly added that a plateau in average new daily coronavirus cases does appear to be real, and could offer a reprieve. He encouraged Californians to skip their New Year's Eve celebrations.

"Many of you are tired," Ghaly continued. "Do as much as you can. Celebrate virtually."

People who traveled for Christmas are being encouraged to quarantine for at least ten days upon their return home.

Under the stay-at-home order, indoor and outdoor dining at restaurants is prohibited. Hair and nail salons, barbershops, card rooms and other businesses are required to remain closed.

Hollywood film and TV studios remain in operation, but officials requested that they pause production.

On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom said that it was "clear and understandable" that stay-at-home orders may be extended. He added that future restrictions for Bay Area and Sacramento will be announced in the new year, once the current orders expire on Jan. 1.

Newsom that restrictions could be lifted in as little as a month with vaccine distribution. "We are seeing light at the end of the tunnel," he said regarding the original order, which was set to expire on Dec. 28.

Approximately 300,000 vaccines have been administered in California. According to Newsom, most of those doses went to front-line medical professionals.

Southern California and San Joaquin Valley have been under the latest stay-at-home order since Dec. 6. Those regions include 23 counties that are home to the majority of California's population.

California recorded its highest number of new coronavirus infections in a single day on Monday, with 66,811, according to The Los Angeles Times. That total included a backlog from Christmas weekend, during which many counties did not issue reports.

Statewide, 20,000 coronavirus-positive patients are hospitalized at the time of writing. This is the greatest number since the beginning of the pandemic in that state.

State officials have mandated that the orders be put in place when a region's intensive care unit availability drops below fifteen percent. This has already happened in four of the state's five defined regions: Southern California, San Joaquin Valley, the Bay Area and Greater Sacramento. Northern California remains the only region not currently subject to the additional restrictions.

Though Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley have technically had no availability in their ICUs, there are still ICU beds available, but they are reserved for non-COVID patients. The state uses a weighted formula to ensure that some beds remain open for patients for other emergencies.

However, the average daily number of cases reported over a weeklong period has fallen from its peak of approximately 45,000 a day for the seven-day period ending Dec. 22.

By Monday night, the average daily number of new coronavirus cases was about 38,000. The average daily number of new cases has already begun to drop in LA County with approximately 14,000 a day over the last 12 days.

In California there were 20,390 coronavirus-positive patients were hospitalized as of Monday, with 4,308 of those in the ICU.

California will likely mark its 25,000th COVID-19 death this week. As of Monday night, 24,545 deaths had been recorded in the state.