(Update: President Trump on Friday said he applauds the moves by the California governor -- and later, by the New York governor -- to issue stay at home orders, closing down all but essential businesses in their states.)
(CNSNews.com) - Effective Thursday evening, the governor of California has ordered all 40 million residents to stay at home.
"A state as large as ours, a nation state, is many parts," Newsom announced at a news conference on Thursday.
"But at the end of the day, we’re one body. There’s a mutuality and there’s a recognition of our interdependence that requires of this moment, that we direct a statewide order for people to stay at home.
"That directive goes into force in effect this evening, and we were confident -- we are confident that the people of the State of California will abide by it."
Newsom acted after six Bay Area counties issued their own stay-at-home orders.
The governor said his order allows people to grocery shop, get medications, walk their dogs and do other "essential work," all while practicing "social distancing."
As for enforcement of the order, Newsom told a news conference, "There’s a social contract here. People, I think, recognize the need to do more and to meet this moment. People will self-regulate their behavior. They’ll begin to adjust and adapt as they have been quite significantly.
"We will have social pressure that will encourage people to do the right thing, just to nod and look, saying, 'Hey, maybe you should reconsider just being out there on the beach, being 22 strong at a park.'
"It’s time for all of us to recognize, as individuals and as a community, we need to do more to meet this moment.
Newsom said he issued the executive order because coronavirus continues to spread, and he's concerned about anticipated hospital capacity:
"We estimate in the United States, we’ve heard this number across the rest of the world, that people --30 percent of the population, as high as 70 percent of the population, may contract the virus. In California, we’ve been working with those numbers as a nation-state, 40 million strong...The virus will impact about 56 percent of us. You do the math," he said.
While the vast majority of that 56 percent won't have serious symptoms, others will require acute care. Newsom said a 20 percent hospitalization rate means about 19,543 people needing acute care, "above the existing capacity of our system," the governor said. "That’s the planning methodology we’ve been using."
Newsom said he believes California has the "capacity to meet this moment," but only if everyone changes their behavior to "bend the curve together."
"Let's not regret," he said. "Let's not dream of regretting, go back and say, 'Well, we could have. Would have. Should have.'"
"This is not a permanent state," Newsom said. "This is a moment in time."
But Newsom could not say how long people must stay at home. “We could not give you a deadline that we could really believe in,” he said. “This is a dynamic situation.”
There are almost 700 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in California and there have been 24 deaths, excluding the Americans who arrived in California on repatriation flights.