Attorney Michael Curran reacts to stay-at-home order expected to be extended

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – A regional stay-at-home order in effect across Southern California due to surging COVID-19 hospitalizations is expected to be formally extended Tuesday, continuing a ban on all gatherings of people from different households, in-person dining and strict capacity limits at many businesses.

The order, which covers an 11-county Southern California area, took effect at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 6 and was set to expire Monday. But with the region’s intensive-care unit capacity at hospitals still effectively listed at 0%, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the order is all but certain to be extended.

“It is clear and understandable that it’s likely those stay-at-home orders will be extended,” Newsom said Monday.

A formal announcement had been expected Monday, but Newsom said the state was still compiling hospital and case data, and completing hospital- demand projections for the next four weeks.

“When we conceived of this framework, we are looking at projections four weeks out,” he said. `We are looking at current case rates, positivity rates, looking at the community surveillance that we’re doing and anticipating based upon our modeling where that growth will be over a four-week period.

He noted, however, that based upon a large number of people who appeared to have ignored warnings against travel over the Christmas holiday — and those who will likely do so over the upcoming New Year’s holiday, the state is bracing for a “surge on top of a surge, arguably on top of, again, another surge.”

He said the official announcement on extending the order will be made Tuesday by Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s Health and Human Services secretary.

Attorney Michael Curran, who is representing dozens of restaurants and businesses that stayed open despite stay-at-home orders, joined Good Morning San Diego to discuss the expected entention.