By TOM JOYCE
THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR
(The Center Square) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom ended the state’s coronavirus emergency orders on Tuesday.
The change came nearly three years after Gov. Newsom became the first governor in America to issue stay-at-home orders.
California has had more than 100,000 residents die from coronavirus. Its death rate (255 per 100,000 people) was below the national average (339 per 100,000 people), according to a press release from the governor’s office.
The announcement from the governor’s office is mostly symbolic. Most government restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic have been lifted by the state. For example, the state was no longer forcing people to wear masks in most places, close their businesses or stay away from beaches in response to the pandemic.
Reflecting on the pandemic, Gov. Newsom said the state is better prepared for a future pandemic, given what it has endured over the last three years.
“California is better prepared, and that’s because we have a serious Legislature and the health ecosystem in California is second to none in the country,” Gov. Newsom said, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Even with the changes, the state will require healthcare plans to cover the cost of coronavirus therapeutics and vaccines. Additionally, the state will reimburse the cost of at-home coronavirus tests until the end of November.
Now that California ended its coronavirus emergency orders, only five states still have one in place.
The state government is not the only California entity rescinding coronavirus emergency orders.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed to end its local coronavirus emergency declaration on Tuesday. The county agreed that the order will expire on March 31.
“Yes, COVID-19 is still with us,” Supervisor Hilda Solis told ABC 7. “No, we don’t want to abandon those tools that got us to this place … but with effective vaccines and testing abundantly available we can move on to the next phase of our response to COVID-19.”
This will make one significant change in Los Angeles County. The county mandates that people exposed to coronavirus must wear a mask in public for ten days; that will no longer be the case in April.
The state of California and Los Angeles County are ending their coronavirus emergency declarations before the federal government. The federal government’s emergency order will expire on May 11, 2023.
