Sacramento must embrace mandatory ‘stay at home’ measures to slow coronavirus’ spread

Sacramento, get ready for the next phase in the fight to slow the coronavirus.

On Monday, seven Northern California counties took the unprecedented step of issuing mandatory “shelter in place” orders. Now, Sacramento County and the city of Davis are urging residents to stay at home.

The need for more drastic action is clear now that Sacramento has 40 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including five at a church in Greenhaven where one elderly woman died. Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Gov. Gavin Newsom have requested that people stay out of bars and restaurants, but the infections at the church prove that it’s time to go further.

Bars and restaurants aren’t the only places where the infection is being spread. Churches, gyms, yoga studios, movie theaters and any other places where people congregate in groups are potential vectors for transmission. For the time being, the people of California must adjust to a new way of life, one where we each take extraordinary measures to slow the virus’ spread.

Declaring a “lockdown” may seem like an overreaction to some, but the climbing death toll in Europe gives us a glimpse of what could happen here. On a recent day in Italy, 368 people died of the coronavirus. Sick patients have overrun hospitals, forcing doctors to choose who lives and who dies.

“In the part of Italy hit hardest by the coronavirus, the crematorium has started operating 24 hours a day,” according to the Washington Post. “Coffins have filled up two hospital morgues, and then a cemetery morgue, and are now being lined up inside a cemetery church. The local newspaper’s daily obituary section has grown from two or three pages to 10, sometimes listing more than 150 names, in what the top editor likens to ‘war bulletins.’”

This is what Sacramento can avoid by adopting “social distancing” to “flatten the curve” and ensure our hospitals don’t get overwhelmed with sick patients. The disease appears to pose an especially serious threat to elderly people and people with compromised immune systems. That’s why people in those categories have already been urged to remain indoors. But COVID-19 can also kill young and healthy people, who can also infect others with the virus even if they don’t show symptoms of the illness.

The “shelter in place” orders in San Francisco, Alameda and Santa Clara counties require people to stay home unless they are performing essential tasks like grocery shopping. Coffee shops, bars and theaters have closed, though restaurants can still provide delivery and curbside service. Gyms and yoga studios have canceled in-person training and transitioned to online classes. Of course, people can still jog, walk or hike outdoors as long as they maintain safe distances from one another.

Again, grocery stores will remain open, so there’s no sense in panic shopping.

“Similar control measures – but even stricter – are what helped flatten the trajectory of China’s devastating epidemic,” reports Lisa Krieger of the San Jose Mercury News. “China imposed travel restrictions between major cities, self-quarantining, rapid testing and ‘social distancing’ on Jan. 23. Now their case count is falling.”

Sacramento-area officials have firmly requested that local establishments and citizens adopt these changes, but it’s time to do more. Every precaution must be taken to reduce the spread of the coronavirus and, hopefully, lower the death toll. It would be a shame to look back in a few weeks and wonder if more could have been done.

While we hope most people in our community are taking this situation seriously and adapting their behavior, our local governments must send a stronger signal to ensure everyone understands the gravity of this situation.

Sacramento must join other Northern California counties in adopting mandatory, enforceable “stay at home” measures to slow the coronavirus.

Editor’s note: This editorial has been updated to reflect the new request by Sacramento County and Davis officials for residents to “shelter in place.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 1:29 PM.