SACRAMENTO — In addressing the coronavirus crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom has been steadfast in contending that his stay-at-home order should be enforced through persuasion, not punishment.
And instead of calling on the National Guard to patrol the streets, the 52-year-old Democrat continues to enlist Californians to pressure one another to “bend the curve.”
“That social pressure we’re seeing out there for people to do the right thing is the most powerful enforcement tool we have,” Newsom said Monday.
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Socially distanced bikers and walkers, against a backdrop of the Queen Mary, make their way along pedestrian and beach bike path on the first day that Long Beach reopened the path on Monday May 11, 2020. The city of Long Beach eased a few of its public health restrictions, allowing under certain guidelines the reopening of pedestrian and beach bike paths, tennis centers and courts. Beach bathrooms are also reopening, but the parking lots and beaches still remain closed. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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Traffic remains light on the southbound 110 Freeway headed toward downtown Los Angeles on April 28. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Dominique Barrett, center, known as “King Vader” to his 2.4 million TikTok followers, prepares to shoot a video on April 30 in Glendora. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Cody Purcell of Redondo Beach rides a wave, glowing from the bioluminescence, in Hermosa Beach, CA, after midnight Friday morning, May 8. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
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Friends play spikeball, a game perfect for social distancing on an open but restricted San Buenaventura State Beach. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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The majority of golfers are wearing masks while hitting balls on the driving range at Van Buren Executive Golf Course in Riverside. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Beaches including Harbor Cove Beach were open but beachgoers were not supposed to be sitting on the sand. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Tango instructor Yelizaveta Nersesova leads a Zoom tango event from her Los Angeles home April 27 that brought together hundreds of dancers from around the world. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Grocery store workers, joined by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 770 representatives and community members, hold a rally in support of strict social distancing on May 1 at a Ralphs store in Hollywood where 19 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Mostly masked commuters keep their distance from one another on a Metro bus in downtown Los Angeles on April 29. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
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Gregory Kuhl, 69, heads home after a shopping trip in Hollywood on April 28. Big cracks in the street, cars parked in driveways blocking sidewalks and uneven pavement levels make navigating his route difficult. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Tenants and their supporters from across Los Angeles gather at city hall to call on L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, the L.A. City Council and California Gov. Gavin Newsom to cancel rent and mortgage payments during the COVID-19 crisis. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Aerial view of over 100 vehicles lined up at the West Valley COVID-19 testing center at Warner Center in Woodland Hills. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Senior Mason Wise, left, helps his sister, Mackenzie, a sophomore, clean out her PE locker at El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills. School officials were allowing no more than five students at a time on campus to take home their belongings. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Shuttered storefront businesses in the garment district of Los Angeles. California’s unemployment rate has skyrocketed since the statewide coronavirus shutdown took effect. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Healthcare workers celebrate as Claudia Martinez is discharged from the ICU after she recovered from COVID-19 at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Chula Vista. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Carson residents Kaeli Burks, 3, left, and her cousin Bailey Watson, 5, look out the window of their car after their mothers helped them with self-testing at a new drive-up testing site for COVID-19 in Carson. Free COVID-19 testing is available to all city residents thanks to a partnership between the city and US Health Fairs. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Norm and Tracy Kahn enjoy eating dinner outside on a small cafe table sitting in blue chairs on their side yard during the coronavirus pandemic on April 27 in Riverside. “During this pandemic, eating outside offers us an opportunity to change surrounding and appreciate the calmness of being outdoors among trees, scents from nature and the sounds of birds,” she said. Also adding, “Mixing up where we eat puts variety into our days and takes away the sameness of feeling trapped at home.” (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center nurses carry supplies outside the hospital. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Tom Sean Foley pauses on a walk with his kids, Cathelen Claire, “C.C.,” 3, and Timothy Joseph, 4, to take a photo in front of the “Love Wall,” mural by artist Curtis Kulig, outside of Smashbox Studios in Culver City. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters stand along Mission Blvd. in Pacific Beach during A Day of Liberty rally on April 26. The protesters were against the government shutdown due to the coronavirus. (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune)
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People make orders at a food truck along Shoreline Avenue in Long Beach. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Medical staff, wearing protective gear, work inside a COVID-19 isolation area inside the emergency department at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, where patients with the virus are being treated. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Neighbors practice social distancing while enjoying the nice weather near The Strand in Hermosa Beach. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
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Counter-protesters attend a protest to call on state and local officials to reopen the economy in downtown Los Angeles. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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A group of protesters cheer on cars during a vehicle caravan protest to call on state and local officials to reopen the economy in downtown Los Angeles. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Cedar Mountain Post Acute Rehabilitation staff member Navi Cavaltera waters a flower pot put up by the community to show their support for the nursing staff of the facility in Yucaipa. Eighteen of 20 coronavirus-related deaths in Yucaipa were residents of the skilled nursing facility. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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A pedestrian wearing a protective mask passes a mural on a store on Melrose Avenue in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Jonte Florence, a freestyle dancer, does a handstand on a mostly empty Hollywood Walk of Fame. Florence said he normally performs for hundreds of tourists along the busy street. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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The Tyrannosaurus rex overlooking the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue wears a protective mask while practicing social distancing. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Businesses are shuttered and pedestrians are few and far between on Hollywood Boulevard. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Daniel Rogerson wears a vintage military gas mask while riding a bike along the beach path in Santa Monica, which is closed to enforce social distancing because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A face mask seller in colorful dress appears to be part of a mural behind a bus stop on Soto Street in Los Angeles. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Life around Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard and Soto Street has slowed down as California officials extended stay-at-home orders into May and residents entered Easter weekend with unprecedented limits on their movements. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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UC Irvine Medical Center health care workers return their gratitude as about 25 Orange County first responder vehicles participate in a drive-by parade of gratitude as they battle COVID-19 at the hospital. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Billy Budd, 55, of Hollywood, walks along Hollywood Boulevard with a protective face covering. Budd is a scenic artist for movies and television who is currently out of work due to the coronavirus outbreak. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Stuart Reyes and his sister, Stephanie, sell masks for $5 each on the 3000 block of West Century Boulevard in Inglewood. Stuart Reyes said he is selling masks to support his mother. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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A jogger runs on a closed trail past dozens of pieces of caution tape, torn off by hikers and mountain bikers at El Escorpion Canyon Park in West Hills. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Alex Herron and nurse Mercy Pineda at a blood drive sponsored by USC athletics and the American Red Cross at USC’s Galen Center. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles City Hall displays blue lights to show support for healthcare workers and first responders. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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After being indoors for several days because of rainy weather and coronavirus stay-at-home orders, Olivia Jacobs, 4, and her mom, Cia Jacobs, enjoy a warm and sunny afternoon making chalk drawings on the sidewalk in front of their home in West Hills. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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An Oceanview Plaza security guard sports a whimsical mask while on patrol. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Jacob De Wilde, left, and Lesli Lytle load a car with food during a food distribution organized to mark Good Friday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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As a late season storm continues to make its way across the Southland, a young basketball player dribbles along an alley through an Elysian Park neighborhood in Los Angeles. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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People are silhouetted in a window of an apartment building in Hollywood, where a stay-at-home order remains in effect to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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The Wilshire Grand Center display blue lights and a heart to show support for healthcare workers and first responders. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Women wear masks as they stroll along Highland Avenue in Hollywood. Wearing masks while outdoors is mandatory in the city of Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Patients are removed from Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center after 39 tested positive for the coronavirus and nursing staff was not showing up to work. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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A specimen is turned in at the new mobile testing site for people with symptoms of the coronavirus at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Hippie Kitchen in Los Angeles hands out food, water and toiletries to homeless people and residents of skid row. Additionally, masks were offered to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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Nurses pose for a fun photo during a break in drive-through public testing for the coronavirus at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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A woman shows a notice from her doctor that allows her to obtain a test for coronavirus at a new drive-up testing site in a parking lot at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A person who wishes to remain anonymous strikes from her car to support McDonald’s employees who are demanding the company cover healthcare costs of any worker or immediate family member who gets sick from COVID-19 in Los Angeles. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Cassidy Roosen, with Beach Cities Health District, holds up a sign that says, “We’re All in This Together,” while waiting to direct cars at a drive-through, appointment-only coronavirus testing location at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Grace Carter, 15, of Riverside, practices a dance routine at home after dance classes and school were canceled. She has to use the Zoom app on her iPhone to practice with her dance group. “It’s hard,” she said. “My bedroom is a smaller space. I miss all my friends at the studio.” (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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A man works from his home in Long Beach. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A San Bernardino County healthcare worker takes a sample at a coronavirus drive-through testing site at the county fairgrounds in Victorville. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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A Metro general service employee disinfects a bench in Boyle Heights. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A runner jogs past the Pottery Barn in Pasadena. Some businesses in the area have boarded up their stores. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Raquel Lezama and daughter Monica Ramos collect meals for their family at Manual Arts High School. Lezama was laid off from her $17.76-an-hour job at a Beverly Hills hotel. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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The Iron City Tavern in San Pedro tries an incentive to lure takeout customers. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Healthcare workers gather outside UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center to call for further action from the federal government in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Kristen Edgerle, of Victorville, collects information from a blood donor before drawing blood at The Richard Nixon Presidential Library blood drive during the coronavirus pandemic in Yorba Linda. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Shauna Jin, of Los Angeles, with her dog, Bodhi, practices social distancing with John Kiss, of Los Angeles, at the entrance of Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A lending library had some additional useful items, including a roll of toilet paper and cans of beans and corn, in a Hermosa Beach neighborhood. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters drive by the Getty House, the home of L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, in Hancock Park. Tenant advocates are demanding a total moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus crisis. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Venice residents Emily Berry and Gavin Kelley take a break at Venice Beach. Berry, a cocktail waitress at Enterprise Fish Co., lost her job due to the coronavirus outbreak. Kelley, a manager at a performing arts school with a focus on music, said that he still has a job and that classes at the school will resume online this coming Monday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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The JW Marriott at L.A. Live is sharing a message of hope with red lights in 34 windows, creating a 19-story display on the hotel’s north side. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Juan Diaz Jr., a lifelong Dodgers fan, prays that the season will start by May in front of Dodger Stadium on what would have been opening day. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Hayley, CEO and founder of Love My Neighbor Foundation, right, dances with Crystal Armster, 51, while she and her colleagues continue to feed the homeless on skid row amid the pandemic. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A masked passenger on a Metro bus in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Dede Oneal waits for a coronavirus test at the Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A man in a mask passes a closed restaurant along Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Artist Corie Mattie paints a mural on the side of a pop-up store as a man takes a picture in West Hollywood. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Medical assistant Zoila Villalta works with Rosie Boston, 32, of Glendale, who is donating blood for her first time at L.A. Care Health Plan downtown. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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A couple wait for a bus outside the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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With all Los Angeles schools closed until further notice, LAUSD buses sit idle in Gardena. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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A lone traveler makes his way to catch a flight in Tom Bradley International Terminal. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Denise Young looks on as her daughter, Allison, 9, a fourth-grader at EARThS (Environmental Academy of Research Technology and Earth Sciences) Magnet School in Newbury Park, receives a Chromebook. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Hollywood Boulevard is devoid of the usual crowds. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Michael Ray, 11, plays before a movie at the Paramount Drive-In. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Isabella Leader, 15, counts how many flags have been left for World War II veteran Lt. Col. Sam Sachs who was celebrating his 105th birthday at the Mom & Dad’s House, an assisted living facility, in Lakewood. Lt. Col. Sachs appealed to the public for birthday cards after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of a big celebration and wound up receiving thousands, including a letter and photo from President Trump. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
But while the approach is consistent with the governor’s deliberate response to the coronavirus pandemic and his effort to persuade Californians to adapt to the new restrictions rather than wielding the power of his office, some have questioned whether Newsom needs to do more.
Newsom reasserted his position over the weekend with the launch of a new public awareness campaign that relies on video messages from celebrities including rapper Snoop Dogg and actor Will Ferrell to persuade Californians to stay home. The governor’s office says the campaign includes advertisements on top social media sites and public service announcements from Newsom’s wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and officials in his administration.
The executive order Newsom signed March 19 requires the state’s 40 million residents to remain in their homes, except for necessary trips to the grocery store, pharmacy or doctor, to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Though violations are punishable by a misdemeanor, jail time and fines, Newsom has emphasized that he would rather educate Californians about the restrictions, and urge them to comply, rather than take more harsh enforcement actions.
Newsom has said, however, that businesses that flout the law could see their liquor licenses and other permits suspended and has called on law enforcement agencies to crack down on residents who violate the law.
California law gives state health officials, who report to the governor, and county health authorities broad powers to prevent and control communicable diseases that threaten the public. Newsom has, in essence, deputized local officials to enforce his order.
“To the extent we have to exercise our formal authority as it relates to licensing and business revocation because people abuse it, we will,” Newsom said. “But again, I’m just incredibly blessed and pleased to live in a state where so many people get it, and increasingly are getting it done.”
At the same time, public health experts — and Newsom — have warned that the stay-at-home order is only effective if people make a concerted effort to change their habits.
The governor has maintained that the vast majority of Californians are abiding by the new restrictions, even after back-to-back weekends of crowded beaches and packed farmers markets have suggested that social pressure might not be enough in some cases.
In response to the large crowds, Newsom closed all state parks to cars on Sunday. He has reiterated that local officials should enforce the stay-at-home order as needed in their communities and commended Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who threatened to shut off water and power to businesses that remain open, for taking the right approach. Garcetti went a step further Monday and temporarily shut down all farmers’ markets across the city.
“Each city has different operations,” Newsom said last week. “Each city has different strategies of how they want to enforce and notify citizens.”
Police Chief Ron Lawrence of Citrus Heights, just outside of Sacramento, said many law enforcement agencies throughout the state have taken cues from the governor’s comments.
“All of us are in this together,” Lawrence said. “What police chiefs don’t want is an adversarial posture. We really don’t want to take enforcement action unless we have to.”
Lawrence, who is president of the California Police Chiefs Assn., said the stay-at-home order and other restrictions have been a “shock to everybody,” noting that asking Californians to change their behavior and daily routines will necessitate an adjustment period.
Eugene Volokh, a professor of 1st Amendment law at UCLA, said arresting people for defying the stay-at-home orders — similar to the deterrent power of any other law — will encourage people to stay home, but he questioned the logic of placing people in crowded jails during a pandemic.
“Obviously, the government isn’t terribly interested in using resources for that, by any means,” Volokh said. “So, my guess is that, to the extent there’s any actual law enforcement here, it’s going to be very much aimed at trying to deter people through the threat of arrest rather than actually arresting people.”
Volokh said lesser means of enforcement, such as ticketing cars in parking lots near beaches or other places now closed to the public, or citing people who are congregating, can be effective deterrence mechanisms. He said Garcetti’s threat to turn off utilities at businesses requires limited government resources and won’t force police to physically interact with store owners.
Standing next to Newsom at a news conference at the Port of Los Angeles on Friday, Garcetti said the city would enforce an L.A. County order to close all beaches, public trails and trailheads to the public. The next day, law enforcement in Manhattan Beach fined a surfer $1,000 after he ignored orders to stay out of the water in defiance of Los Angeles County’s beach closure.
The Los Angeles Police Department has denied that officers have been conducting vehicle stops and putting up checkpoints to enforce the order in response to contradicting claims on social media. Officers were seen in Venice ordering people off the beach Saturday, and a helicopter was filmed ordering people to leave a skate park or be arrested for trespassing.
Garcetti said police officers visited at least one restaurant that remained open, leading to its closure, but largely agreed with Newsom that most people are complying with the order without enforcement.
“99.99% of this can be done without any criminal penalty,” Garcetti said. “But we’re prepared, if anybody is an outlier, because one person can be a super spreader, one person can kill someone, one person can kill themselves.”
The police department in San Jose, a hot spot for coronavirus infection, also warned businesses and residents last week that they would receive citations if they kept violating public health restrictions after being warned.
Packed beaches in San Diego County led the city of San Diego and other municipalities to the north to also close their beaches.
“The purpose is to save lives. They are not recommendations to be followed when they are convenient,” San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore told The Times. “If we can’t get the voluntary compliance, we’re ready to issue citations.”
Mary Ann Limbos, deputy health officer for Yolo County in Northern California, said her agency is prepared to order more aggressive enforcement if warranted, but thus far that has not been necessary. Still, the stay-at-home order has only been in place for less than two weeks, and there’s always the danger of complacency, she said.
“It’s going to take at least a couple of weeks in order for us to see any changes in the numbers of cases we are seeing,” Limbos said. “But I think it was a wake-up call the other day when we actually had a death in the county.”
In rural parts of the state, where some counties have yet to identify a positive coronavirus case, violations of the statewide order are rare but still cropping up.
Sheriff Mike Fisher of Sierra County, home to 3,000 residents, said his deputies have quickly remedied calls concerning noncompliance.
“The thing here in Sierra County is that people tend to kind of self-social-distance themselves to begin with,” Fisher said. “The fact is that a majority of our county right now is covered in snow. People tend to stay in a little bit more anyways.”
The sheriff’s office has not taken any enforcement action, Fisher said. His deputies have been busy helping deliver food to the elderly and other people at risk who don’t want to travel into towns or stores, he said.
Since California enacted the first stay-at-home order in the nation, more than half of the states in the country have adopted their own orders, including Washington and New York, which have struggled with large numbers of coronavirus cases.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced a similar stay-at-order on Monday, warning that anyone who willfully violates the order can be charged with a misdemeanor. On Friday, police reportedly arrested a man who after he did not disperse a bonfire party attended by dozens of people, violating the governor’s earlier order banning large gatherings.
Arrests or citations also have been reported in Indiana, New York, Hawaii and Ohio for people who violated stay-at-home orders or social distancing requirements — though many of those arrests have largely been focused on more serious crimes that occurred while people were out in the community.
Newsom has warned Californians that their choices will determine whether the state’s healthcare system is overrun with sick patients.
“I completely reject this notion that somehow we are destined to any particular fate,” Newsom said last week. “It is decisions, not conditions, that determine our future. And it’s the sum total of millions of individual decisions. And that’s why we can’t let up on the good decision-making that we’ve seen from the overwhelming majority of Californians over the course of the last few weeks.”
Researchers at Harvard found that more than 262,000 people in California would require intensive care if just 20% of the population became infected with COVID-19.
Newsom wrote in a letter to President Trump last week that the state expected more than half of all Californians to become infected with the novel coronavirus in the next eight weeks. Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of health and human services, later said the state figure failed to reflect the effects of the stay-at-home order or social distancing policies, which could dramatically decrease the spread of the disease if followed.
Ghaly said the Newsom administration anticipates a need for 50,000 hospital beds above and beyond the existing supply in California.
A University of Washington study, which does take California’s order and other policies to slow the virus into account, suggests more than 6,109 people will die from COVID-19 in the state by Aug. 4. The state is making efforts to secure 50,000 more hospital beds for sick patients should the number of coronavirus cases surge as expected by mid-May, according to Ghaly.
The governor’s office said the “Stay Home. Save Lives” campaign includes advertisements on Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Spotify and that businesses in California have invested more than $6.5 million to support it.
In a video the governor’s office posted on Facebook this week, Ferrell, described as a “famous millennial” who loves to go out on the town and party, advises Californians to create their own party in the comfort of their homes.
Snoop Dogg, in a more serious tone, tells viewers to remain in their homes and says “the longer you stay outside, the longer we gonna be inside” in a 30-second video that Newsom’s office promoted on Twitter.
In other videos, actress Kerry Washington talks with California Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris about social distancing and actor Kumail Nanjiani encourages residents to flatten the curve and stop hoarding toilet paper.
Los Angeles Times reporters Soumya Karlamangla and James Queally contributed to this report.
