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. 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, the governor 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.