Gov. Newsom announces statewide order for residents to shelter in homes

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide order for residents to shelter in their homes on Thursday.

Newsom announced the order during a press conference just after 6:30 p.m.

"We direct a statewide order for people to stay at home. That directive goes into force this evening," Gov. Newsom said.

Newsom said the order will remain in place for the time being with no exact timeframe for the order to be lifted.

Newsom said he believes social pressure will keep people in their homes and encourage people to "do the right thing."

"It is time for all of us to recognize, as individuals and as a community, we need to do more to meet this moment," Newsom said.

Earlier Thursday, Newsom said 56 percent of California residents are expected to become sick from the coronavirus; there are more than 39 million California residents.

Newsom said the state's capacity for hospital beds is more than 100,000 short of what is needed. On Thursday, Newsom announced that he requested President Donald Trump to deploy the USNS Mercy Hospital Ship to the Port of Los Angeles through September 1 to help the state’s health care delivery system in Los Angeles.

Essential functions will remain in place and essential businesses will be allowed to remain open. Essential businesses include pharmacies, grocery stores, banks and gas stations among other businesses.

Newsom said the latest information can be found on the state's COVID-19 website.

The statewide order came just hours after San Luis Obispo County's "Shelter at Home" order went into effect Thursday evening.

Santa Barbara County announced its own health officer order for residents during a teleconference on Thursday afternoon. That order was set to go into effect Friday at 5 p.m., and in part would have banned non-essential gatherings of 10 or more people and told those 75 or older in the county to stay at home.

Now the entire state is under the same order for the foreseeable future.