Tens of thousands of Californians flocked to the beach this past weekend — and Gov. Gavin Newsom had a stern warning for those residents on Monday.
“We can’t see the images like we saw, particularly on Saturday, like in Newport Beach,” he said during his daily COVID-19 press conference, adding that the coronavirus “doesn’t take the weekend off.”
Newsom said he doesn’t “want to be punitive” and issue citations for those who hit up the beaches and do not practice social distancing. But he said he “cannot impress upon people more, the only thing that will set us back is our behavior.”
Newsom hinted that the state is weeks away from beginning to slowly modify the stay-at-home order.
“The only thing that can stop that is more images like those we saw over this weekend,” he said.
The governor also announced on Monday that Colorado and Nevada will be joining California, Oregon and Washington as a “Western States Pact,” which will have a “shared vision” for lifting or modifying the regional stay-at-home orders.
His administration will also host a “digital round table” on economic recovery on Tuesday. The governor said the public and press will be able to listen in to this discussion of economic recovery strategies.
“It’s really about talking about the future, and what that retail experience may look like a year from now,” Newsom said.
California saw a “modest decline” in COVID-19 fatalities over the past 48 hours, with 45 lives lost. Newsom noted that this was a meaningful drop from just days ago, when more than 100 residents died in a single day.
The state saw very modest increases in hospitalizations and intensive-care unit patients in the past 24 hours.
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