CALIFORNIA, USA — Gov. Gavin Newsom issued new regional stay-at-home orders on Thursday as California's coronavirus cases continue to rise.
This latest stay at home order is grouped by five regional hospital networks instead of the previous county-based approach. The stay-at-home order will be triggered when a region's ICU bed capacity drops below 15%. Four out of the five regions are projected to reach that number in early December. The order would ban some businesses from opening, including bars, wineries, hair salons and barbershops.
As a result of these new restrictions, some law enforcement agencies in Northern California are announcing how they will approach enforcement of these orders. Some are continuing their plan of education.
1. Sacramento County Sheriff's Office
Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said in a statement that the county sheriff's office will not enforce the order with the primary reason being that the department does not have the staffing.
"We still do all the same types of things we have always done, and we don't have additional time or staffing to take on more," Jones said in the statement.
Sheriff Jones recently tested positive for COVID-19 himself after a workplace exposure, and addressed this in his announcement.
"While I remain in quarantine, there seem to be those...who can't resist connecting my contraction of Covid with my official position of not utilizing armed officers to enforce emergency or other orders...I have enacted dozens of measures inside our department to keep our employees and the public as safe as possible, including mandatory mask policies...Despite those measures, because of the inherent nature of the necessary work we do, the possibility of contracting the virus is an ever-present reality," Sheriff Jones said.
Jones further explained that he would "continue as I have from Day 1 of this pandemic, educating folks when necessary."
2. Placer County Sheriff's Office
The Placer County Sheriff's Office posted a statement to Facebook saying its role in the new stay-at-home order will continue to be focused on education.
"The sheriff’s office would like to encourage everyone to continue to take public health precautions and follow the current guidelines," the statement said.
3. El Dorado County Sheriff's Office
The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office announced on Thursday that the department has reinstated the Emergency Operations Center in order to help curb coronavirus in the community.
At the very bottom of statement, El Dorado Sheriff John D'Agostini said the department will "focus on education rather than enforcement."
4. San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office
With the San Joaquin Valley officially under a stay-at-home order, the county sheriff's office announced it would not strictly enforce the guidance.
"We will continue to encourage businesses and citizens to follow public health recommendations," a spokesperson for San Joaquin Sheriff's Office said in a statement. "As always, we prefer to educate people and businesses that are out of compliance when possible, and help them achieve compliance."
"The bottom line is our community is struggling at this time and we, as always, will be partners in the solution so we can get through this."
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