旧金山——南加州的广大地区、旧金山湾区的大部分地区和中央谷的一大片地区即将被全面封锁，以紧急尝试减缓冠状病毒病例的快速上升。

加州公共卫生部周六表示，南加州和中央谷医院的重症监护室容量已降至15%以下，这引发了新的措施，包括严格关闭企业，禁止与自己家庭以外的任何人聚集。新措施将于周日晚上生效，并将持续至少三周，这意味着封锁将涵盖圣诞节。

该州大部分地区都处于同样限制的边缘。一些县甚至在授权生效前就选择实施这些措施，包括旧金山湾区的五个县，这些措施也将从周日开始生效。

随着新一轮封锁的临近，许多人周六冲出去超市，在订单到来之前在沙龙外排队理发。

旧金山居民迈克尔·杜兰索赶到一个市场去装载补给品。

“我只是在周日之前储备——基本的东西，面包，鸡蛋，”他告诉KGO-TV，手里拿着一个沉重的购物袋和一个法棍面包。

州长加文·纽瑟姆周四宣布了新计划。这是自他在3月份实施该国第一个全州居家规则以来最严格的命令。但情况比3月份更糟糕。

“现在社区感染COVID的风险比以往任何时候都高，”圣地亚哥县医疗主任埃里克·麦克唐纳博士周六对记者说。他和其他官员敦促公众冷静下来，遵守规则，帮助该州度过该州经历的最新、最糟糕的一波案件。

自大流行开始以来，加利福尼亚州已记录了130万例新冠肺炎病例，创下了周五25068例确诊病例的新纪录。

新法令将该州分为五个地区，并以伊斯兰法院联盟的能力作为关闭的触发点。

这些措施禁止所有现场餐厅用餐、美发和美甲沙龙、电影院和许多其他企业，以及博物馆和游乐场。它说人们不可以和家庭以外的人聚集在一起，外出时必须戴口罩。

根据新的命令，目前开放的学校可以继续提供面对面的教学；包括超市和购物中心在内的零售商只能以20%的顾客容量运营。

据加州公共卫生部周六报告，包括洛杉矶和圣地亚哥在内的南加州地区有11个县，但只有12.5%的重症监护室床位可用。圣华金河谷地区的这一数字为8.6%，该地区由农业中心河谷的十几个县和内华达山脉的农村地区组成。

加州4000万人口中有一半以上居住在这两个地区。

“我们正处于病例激增和住院率没有下降的时刻，”公共卫生专家萨尔瓦多·桑多瓦尔博士说健康中央山谷城市默塞德的官员。“这一点我怎么强调都不为过——每个人都必须采取个人措施来保护自己和他人。”

其他三个地区——大萨克拉门托、北加州和旧金山湾区——的容量都在21%左右。

但是海湾地区11个县中的5个县的卫生官员没有等待。周五，他们通过了该州的居家命令。这些变化周日晚上开始在旧金山、圣克拉拉、马林、阿拉米达和康特拉科斯塔县以及伯克利市生效。

“我们认为我们不能等待该州的新限制生效。...“这是紧急情况，”康特拉科斯塔卫生官员克里斯·法尼塔诺说。

“我们一直以来最大的恐惧——当你或你的母亲或祖母或祖父生病时，我们没有床给他们——是我们将面临的现实，除非我们减缓传播，”旧金山市长伦敦·布里德说。

湾区的命令将至少持续到1月4日，比该州的时间表长一周，而且该州记录了创纪录的每日新病例数，达到22，018例。住院人数首次突破9000人，重症监护室患者达到创纪录的2152人。

新的关闭对小企业来说是一个痛苦的举动，这些企业在近一年的时间里一直在努力生存，他们多次被命令关闭，然后被允许重新开放，但采取了复杂的安全预防措施。

米歇尔·桑德斯·詹姆斯周五在奥克兰美甲店重新开张仅五周后，就想到要关闭它，不禁潸然泪下。

“我们戴(面罩)。我们测量体温。我们做所有我们被告知要做的事情，所以每个人都感到安全，包括我们的工作人员和团队，”她告诉KGO-TV。“所以我不明白为什么这还不够，我非常难过和害怕。”

批评者说，广泛的全州秩序不公平地将太多不同的县合并成地区。

“我觉得这很荒谬。我就是这种感觉。开玩笑的。我是说，首先我们离洛杉矶有220英里。我们在地理上是孤立的，我们没有问题...代表圣路易斯奥比斯波的共和党议员乔丹坎宁安说。

他问，当圣路易斯奥比斯波医院的重症监护室只有一名COVID患者时，为什么他的县应该与洛杉矶和河滨等南加州县合并在一起。对商业的影响已经是毁灭性的，他说。“我们的小企业正在失去一切，他们所拥有的一切。”

始于10月份的新冠肺炎传染病爆发式上升，主要归咎于人们忽视安全措施和与他人交往。

伯克利卫生官员丽莎·埃尔南德斯说，人们不应该与任何不和他们住在一起的人见面，“即使是在一个小组里，甚至在户外也要小心谨慎。”

“如果你有一个社会泡沫，它现在就破灭了，”埃尔南德斯说。"不要让这成为你和家人的最后一个假期。"

在内陆的中央谷，弗雷斯诺县仅有150张重症监护室床位中的10张。卫生官员描述了一幅严峻的画面，由于冠状病毒感染和暴露，医院努力保持人员配备。急救医疗服务主任丹尼尔·林奇周五说，一家医院将重症监护室的病人留在急诊部，直到床位开放。

该县已经请求州政府提供几周的人员帮助。但是到目前为止，只有一两个额外的工人出现在三家当地医院，整个州都在为人员配备而挣扎。

Most of California to enter sweeping new virus lockdown

SAN FRANCISCO -- The vast region of Southern California, much of the San Francisco Bay area and a large swath of the Central Valley are about to be placed under a sweeping new lockdown in an urgent attempt to slow the rapid rise of coronavirus cases.

The California Department of Public Health said Saturday the intensive care unit capacity in Southern California and Central Valley hospitals had fallen below a 15% threshold that triggers the new measures, which include strict closures for businesses and a ban on gathering with anyone outside of your own household. The new measures will take effect Sunday evening and remain in place for at least three weeks, meaning the lockdown will cover the Christmas holiday.

Much of the state is on the brink of the same restrictions. Some counties have opted to impose them even before the mandate kicks in, including five San Francisco Bay Area counties where the measures also take effect starting Sunday.

With a new lockdown looming, many rushed out to supermarkets Saturday and lined up outside salons to squeeze in a haircut before the orders kicked in.

San Francisco resident Michael Duranceau rushed to a market to load up on supplies.

“I’m just stocking up before Sunday — the basics, bread, eggs,” he told KGO-TV, clutching a heavy grocery bag and a baguette.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the new plan Thursday. It is the most restrictive order since he imposed the country’s first statewide stay-at-home rule in March. But the situation is bleaker than in March.

“The risk of contracting COVID in the community now is higher now than it has ever been," Dr. Eric McDonald, the medical director for San Diego County, told reporters Saturday. He and other officials urged the public to bear down, heed the rules and help the state get through the latest and worst wave of cases the state has seen.

California has tallied a staggering total of 1.3 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic started, setting a new daily record on Friday when 25,068 confirmed cases were recorded.

The new order divides the state into five regions and uses ICU capacity as the trigger for closures.

The measures bar all on-site restaurant dining and close hair and nail salons, movie theaters and many other businesses, as well as museums and playgrounds. It says people may not congregate with anyone outside their household and must always wear masks when they go outside.

Under the new order, schools that are currently open can continue to provide in-person instruction; retailers including supermarkets and shopping centers can operate with just 20% customer capacity.

The 11-county Southern California region, which includes the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, had only 12.5% of its ICU beds available, the California Department of Public Health reported Saturday. The figure was 8.6% for the San Joaquin Valley region, composed of a dozen counties in the agricultural Central Valley and rural areas of the Sierra Nevada.

Together the two regions are home to more than half of California's population of 40 million.

“We are at a point where surging cases and hospitalizations are not letting up," said Dr. Salvador Sandoval, public health officer for the Central Valley city of Merced. “I can’t emphasize this enough – everyone must take personal steps to protect themselves and protect others.”

The other three regions — Greater Sacramento, Northern California and San Francisco Bay Area — were all around 21% capacity.

But health officers in five of the Bay Area's 11 counties didn’t wait. On Friday, they adopted the state's stay-at-home order. The changes begin to take effect Sunday night in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Marin, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, as well as the city of Berkeley.

“We don’t think we can wait for the state’s new restrictions to go into effect. ... This is an emergency,” Contra Costa Health Officer Chris Farnitano said.

“Our biggest fear all along — that we won’t have a bed for you or your mother or your grandmother or grandfather when they get sick — is the reality we’ll be facing unless we slow the spread,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said.

The Bay Area order will last at least through Jan. 4, a week longer than the state's timeline, and came as the state recorded another daily record number of new cases with 22,018. Hospitalizations topped 9,000 for first time, and ICU patients were at a record 2,152.

The new shutdowns were a gut-wrenching move for small businesses that have struggled to survive over nearly a year in which they were repeatedly ordered to close, then allowed to reopen but with complex safety precautions.

Michelle Saunders James was in tears Friday at the thought of closing down her Oakland nail salon just five weeks after reopening it.

“We wear (face) shields. We take temperatures. We do everything we are told to do so everyone feels safe, including our staff and team,” she told KGO-TV. “So I don’t understand why it’s not enough, and I’m terribly sad and afraid.”

Critics say the broad statewide order unfairly lumps too many disparate counties together into regions.

“I feel like it’s absurd. That’s how I feel. It’s a joke. I mean, first of all we are 220 miles away from Los Angeles. And we are geographically isolated and we have no problem ... with overfilled ICU beds,” said Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, a Republican who represents San Luis Obispo.

He asked why his county should be lumped in with Southern California counties like Los Angeles and Riverside when the San Luis Obispo hospital has just one COVID patient in the ICU. The effect on business has already been devastating, he said. “We’ve got small businesses that are losing everything, everything they have."

The explosive rise in COVID-19 infections that began in October is being blamed largely on people ignoring safety measures and socializing with others.

Berkeley Health Officer Lisa Hernandez said people should not meet in person with anyone they don’t live with, “even in a small group, and even outdoors with precautions.”

“If you have a social bubble, it is now popped,” Hernandez said. “Do not let this be the last holiday with your family.”

In the inland Central Valley, Fresno County had just 10 of its 150 ICU beds available. Health officials described a grim picture with hospitals struggling to stay staffed because of coronavirus infections and exposures. One hospital is holding ICU patients in the emergency department until beds open up, Emergency Medical Services Director Daniel Lynch said Friday.

The county has requested help from the state with staffing for a couple of weeks. But so far only one or two additional workers have shown up at three local hospitals as the whole state struggles with staffing.