Stricter stay-at-home restrictions coming back for Californians before July 4th holiday, Gov. Newsom teases as COVID-19 cases climb

ByAlix Martichoux KGO logo

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Stricter stay-at-home restrictions may return in CA, Newsom says

Warning about the coronavirus dangers of family gatherings and other public gatherings over the Fourth of July weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he will make an announcement on Wednesday about "enforcement'' and other possible rollbacks of recent reopenings and easing of health orders.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Speaking through the shouts of nearby protesters, Gov. Gavin Newsom teased more restrictions are on the way back for Californians.

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"Tomorrow we'll be making some additional announcements on efforts to use that 'dimmer switch' that we've referred to, and begin to toggle back on our stay-at-home order and tighten things up," he said.

The governor spoke at a motel in Pittsburg, one of the places the state is temporarily housing thousands of homeless individuals amid the coronavirus pandemic. While that was originally the focus of his address, the conversation quickly turned to the elephant in the room: COVID-19 cases continue to climb in California ahead of a holiday weekend, when it's feared social and family gatherings will only make things worse.

"We've got Fourth of July weekend coming up. One of the areas of biggest concern as it relates to the spread of COVID-19 in the state remains family gatherings, not just bars, not just out in the streets where people are protesting," Newsom said. "It's specifically family gatherings, where extended and immediate family members begin to mix, and they take down their guard."

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Newsom said he'd be announcing the return of some stay-at-home restrictions Wednesday, but didn't specify whether the restrictions would apply statewide or only to certain areas of high concern.

"If you're not going to stay home and you're not going to wear masks in public, we have to enforce - and we will - and we'll be making announcements on enforcement tomorrow," Newsom said.

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An additional 6,367 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Hospitalizations rose by 6.3% and ICU hospitalizations went up by 4.3%.

"We bent the curve in the state of California once. We will bend the curve again," Newsom said. "We will crush this pandemic. We will annihilate it. We'll get past this, but we're going to have to be tougher."

We'll be streaming Newsom's press conference Wednesday live at noon on abc7news.com, Facebook and YouTube.

Newsom's Tuesday press conference was cut short as protesters nearby used megaphones and played siren noises throughout his address. The pool reporter on scene identified them as Black Lives Matter protesters demanding a "redistribution of resources."

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