The government of California initially responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in the state with a statewide lockdown, the first of its kind during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. As the pandemic progressed in California and throughout the rest of the country, the California government, following recommendations issued by the U.S. government regarding state and local government responses, began imposing social distancing measures and workplace hazard controls.
Background
On December 31, 2019, China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases in its city of Wuhan. On January 7, 2020, the Chinese health authorities confirmed that this cluster was caused by a novel infectious coronavirus. On January 8, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an official health advisory via its Health Alert Network (HAN) and established an Incident Management Structure to coordinate domestic and international public health actions."Outbreak of Pneumonia of Unknown Etiology (PUE) in Wuhan, China" , CDC, January 8, 2020 On January 10 and 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned about a strong possibility of human-to-human transmission and urged precautions. On January 20, the WHO and China confirmed that human-to-human transmission had occurred.
On January 26, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first case in California. The person, who had returned from travel to Wuhan, China, was released from the hospital in Orange County on February 1 in good condition to in-home isolation. On January 31, the CDC confirmed the state's second case, a man in Santa Clara County, who had recently traveled to Wuhan. The man recovered at home and was released from in-home isolation on February 20. On February 6, 2020, a woman from San Jose, California, became the first COVID-19 death in the U.S., though this was not discovered until April 2020. The case indicated community transmission was happening undetected in the state and the U.S., most likely since December.
State government
2020 February
Newsom announced that, , the number of people being monitored for the virus in California amounted to 8,400.
On February 27, the governor announced that the state was limited in testing for the new coronavirus because it had only 200 testing kits.
March
On March 4, Newsom declared a state of emergency after the first death in California attributable to coronavirus occurred in Placer County.
On March 12, Newsom announced that mass gatherings (over 250 people) and social gatherings (more than 10 people) were banned until the end of March. He also issued an order to permit the state to commandeer hotels and medical facilities to treat coronavirus patients. On March 13, schools were closed in Marin, Sacramento, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Solano, Placer, and Contra Costa counties, as well as the Oakland, Antioch, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles Unified, Chaffey Unified, Etiwanda, Fontana Unified, Ontario-Montclair, Alta Loma Unified, San Diego, Los Alamitos Unified, and Washington Unified school districts. In Santa Clara county, all gatherings of 100 or more people were banned, and gatherings of 35 or more people were banned unless they satisfied public health restrictions. Press reports in April suggest that the aggressive early imposition of social-distancing orders by Santa Clara County were the result of community surveillance performed beginning on March 5.
On March 15, Newsom called for voluntary closure of bars and in-home self-isolation of seniors 65 and older, as well as persons at-risk due to underlying conditions. On March 16, the health officers of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties announced, with the City of Berkeley, a legal order directing their respective residents to shelter in place for three weeks beginning midnight March 17 to April 7 in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The order limited activity, travel and business functions to only the most essential needs. The same day, the county of Santa Cruz issued a similar shelter in place order.
On March 17, more counties issued shelter in place orders, including Monterey County (until April 4), San Benito (until April 7), and Sonoma (until April 7). The federal Defense Secretary said the military would provide up to 5 million respirator masks and also 2,000 ventilators from its reserve.
On March 18, shelter in place orders were issued by Yolo County (until April 7), the city of Fresno (until March 31), Napa County (effective March 20, until April 7) San Luis Obispo County (until April 17), and Mendocino County (until April 7). The Department of Defense said the Navy's hospital ship USNS Mercy is being prepared for deployment in California, "to assist potentially overwhelmed communities with acute patient care".
On March 19, Newsom then announced a statewide stay-at-home order. Newsom said that the state has asked the Department of Defense to deploy the Navy's USNS Mercy hospital ship in California.
On March 20, Governor Newsom deployed the California National Guard to provide assistance to food banks in California.
On March 21, the Strategic National Stockpile Division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services converted the Santa Clara Convention Center into a Federal Medical Station to receive noncritical patients from local hospitals.
On March 22, President Trump announced that he had directed Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide 8 large federal medical stations with 2,000 beds for California.
On March 24, Newsom passed an executive order to postpone intakes in prisons and juvenile correction centers. The objective was to hinder contamination in the prison system. Also on March 24, the California State Guard was deployed alongside the California National Guard in San Mateo County to provide emergency prehospital response for patients.
April On April 1, Newsom announced the closure of all public and private schools for the remainder of the 2019–2020 academic year, including all institutions of higher education, and directing all schools to "put all efforts into strengthening our delivery of education through distance learning." The University of California system announced that they would temporarily suspend the use of standardized testing for Fall 2021 admissions, and suspend the letter grade requirement for A-G courses completed in winter, spring, and summer 2020.
On April 7, Newsom announced that the state has secured a deal that will provide upwards of 200 million masks, including 150 million N95 masks, per month to the state.
On April 9, Newsom announced the state would pay for hotel rooms for hospital and other essential workers afraid of returning home and infecting family members.
On April 13, Newsom, together with Oregon governor Kate Brown and Washington governor Jay Inslee, announced the Western States Pact, an agreement to coordinate among the three states to restart economic activity while controlling the outbreak.
On April 15, Newsom announced that undocumented immigrants can receive $500 per adult or $1,000 per household. The total cost will be $75 million that will be distributed by nonprofit organizations.
On April 22, Newsom ordered a review on autopsies of people who died in December 2019 in order to find out when COVID-19 arrived in California.
On April 24, Newsom announced a program that will deliver free meals to elderly residents who meet the program's requirements. This program partners with local restaurants to deliver up to $61 worth of meals per day to each qualified resident. 75% of the program's cost will be covered by FEMA, and the rest will be covered by the state and local governments.
On April 29, Newsom announced an expansion of the state's Farm to Family program, which helps connect farmers to food banks. The governor also announced that the state's CalFresh program will continue to send every recipient the maximum amount of benefits for May. Newsom also said that families with kids who can receive free or low-cost lunch at schools could now get up to $365 a month in additional benefits due to the Pandemic-EBT program. Additionally, Newsom announced that EBT cards could be used to buy groceries online on Amazon and Walmart, and the state was encouraging other supermarkets to also accept EBTs for online purchasing.
May
By May, Newsom had come under pressure to reopen, e.g. via over a dozen lawsuits filed by lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, who later credited herself for "large sectors of California's economy opening up much sooner than the governor originally intended."
On May 2, the Washington Post reported that a vitamins executive claimed that (at a previous time not specified in the article) Trump had given him Newsom's phone number for the purpose of persuading the governor to buy hydroxychloroquine as a proposed treatment for COVID-19. Newsom declined the proposal to buy millions of hydroxychloroquine tablets, at cost, from an Indian manufacturer.
On May 6, Newsom signed an executive order to extend workers' compensation for all workers who contracted COVID-19 during the state's stay-at-home order. This order was to be retroactive to March 19, when the state's stay-at-home order was issued. Newsom also signed an executive order that waived property tax penalties for residents and small businesses that have been negatively affected by the pandemic.
On May 7, Newsom announced that the state was moving into Stage 2 of its four-stage reopening roadmap. Stage 2 allows for certain low-risk sectors of the economy to reopen, so long as there are significant safety measures in place.
On May 8, Newsom signed an executive order to send every registered voter a mail-in ballot for the 2020 general election.
On May 18, the Department of Public Health announced that counties could selectively reopen types of business that are part of Stage 3 of the state's four-stage reopening roadmap. To reopen certain types of business, a county would attest to its readiness.
On May 26, the Department of Public Health announced that hair service businesses could reopen with restrictions.
June
On June 5, the Department of Public Health noted that many counties were ready to move ahead into Stage 3 of the state's four-stage reopening roadmap. Stage 3 allows for certain higher-risk businesses to reopen with safety and hygiene modifications like seating capacity and regular cleaning in restaurants, bars, theaters, gyms and hair salons.
On June 12, the Department of Public Health released guidance for expanding the operations of personal care service businesses.
On June 18, the Department of Public Health issued universal masking guidance. Counties may follow this guidance to require the wearing of cloth face coverings by all individuals over the age of 2 in all public indoor settings, and in outdoor settings when social distancing is not possible. Exemptions are provided for restaurants (if social distancing is maintained), inmates, and people with specific medical conditions that prevent their use. Newsom stated that "science shows that face coverings and masks work".
By late June, The New York Times observed an "alarming surge in cases" in California that was forcing Newsom to roll back the reopening in several counties.
On June 26, Newsom said he was "committed to intervening" if Imperial County officials did not reimpose stay-at-home orders in the Mexican border region where positive rates averaged 23% while the nationwide average was 5.7%.
On June 28, Newsom ordered bars closed in seven counties: Los Angeles, Fresno, Kern, San Joaquin, Tulare, Kings, and Imperial.
July