Gov. Gavin Newsom admonishes Californians who went to crowded beaches, warns it could delay reopening
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Gov. Gavin Newsom warned Californians not to delay the state's reopening with risky behavior in his daily press conference on novel coronavirus.
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Pictures spread over the weekend of crowded Southern California beaches amid a heat wave. Gov. Newsom warned, "Those images are an example of what not to see, what not to do if we're going to make the meaningful progress we've made the past couple of weeks."
Newsom said he was weeks, not months, away from making meaningful changes to the state's stay-at-home orders, but if we see a spike in COVID-19 cases, those augmentations will have to be delayed.
"The virus is as present and prevalent as it's ever been. It's transmissible as it's ever been. Nothing has changed in that respect."
He later added, "It doesn't take the weekend off. It doesn't take any time off. It is ubiquitous. It is invisible. It remains deadly. Ask the 45 families who lost a loved one in the last 48 hours. Please, please continue physical distancing."
Newsom said he'd work with local governments, like those in Orange and Ventura counties, to change guidelines and increase enforcement, if necessary.
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Just before the governor's press conference, six Bay Area counties announced they'd be extending shelter-in-place orders until May 31. (Read the full story here.)
Newsom said any decisions on reopening in the coming weeks would be done in coordination with other Western states. On Monday, Nevada and Colorado joined California, Washington and Oregon's Western States Pact.
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Over the weekend, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state grew to over 43,000. Fatalities reached 1,755.
On the positive side, ICU hospitalizations were nearly flat, with only one additional person put in intensive care over the past 24 hours.
"Let's keep it that way," said Newsom. "Let's just get through this thing together so that we can get so much farther, so much quicker."
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