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LOS ANGELES: More than 23 million people in Southern California were preparing for the harshest blockades in the United States on Sunday (Dec. 6) as COVID-19 cases soared to record levels in the most populous state from the country.
The restrictions in California, ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom to take effect region by region as beds in hospital intensive care units are nearly filled, require that bars, nail and nail salons and tattoo shops close again.
As of 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, the affected regions also had to close even the outdoor restaurants.
Newsom, a Democrat in his first term, has threatened to withhold funds from local governments that refuse to comply with the restrictions.
The crackdown has angered some Californians eight months after the pandemic, including some law enforcement officials. Sheriffs in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties have said they will not help enforce them.
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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a videotaped message posted on the department’s website that his office “will not be blackmailed, intimidated or used as force” against county residents to enforce the governor’s orders. .
“Orange County Sheriff’s Deputies will not be dispatched or respond to calls for service to enforce compliance with face covering, social gatherings, or staying home,” said his Orange County counterpart Don Barnes in a written statement.
The San Francisco Bay Area will also be closed starting at 10 p.m. Sunday, under a set of separate orders issued by Mayor London Breed.
Newsom and Breed have come under fire after dining on separate nights at a posh Napa Valley restaurant, the French Laundry, in November, despite repeatedly warning Californians to avoid such outings.
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California reported more than 30,000 new cases Sunday, surpassing the previous state maximum of 21,986 set on Dec. 4, and set a new record for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia also posted record one-day increases in new infections.
As the nation struggles under the latest surge in the pandemic, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, complained Sunday of mixed messages from U.S. governors.
“Right now, on the other side of the Sun Belt, we have governors and mayors who have cases equivalent to what they had in the summer but they are not applying the same policies and mitigations that they put in the summer, who they know changed the course of this. pandemic across the South, “he said in an interview on NBC’s” Meet the Press. “
President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat who defeated Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election, has said that upon taking office Jan. 20 he will enact mask mandates where he has authority, such as in federal buildings and for interstate travel.
Trump said on Twitter that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, his personal attorney, had tested positive for the virus. Trump did not say if Giuliani was experiencing symptoms or if he had self-quarantined.
In New York City, one of the first epicenters of the U.S. pandemic, some public schools in the nation’s largest school district prepared to reopen for daily in-person classes on Monday after a shutdown across the nation. city.
An estimated 190,000 children in programs targeting early childhood, elementary and special needs students will be eligible to return to classrooms, the city said.
Neighboring New Jersey over the weekend halted indoor youth sports after at least 28 outbreaks affected 170 people. Gov. Phil Murphy’s ban targets sports like basketball, ice hockey and swimming, including practice and competition, until at least January 2.
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