Ventura County ACS/ARES Communications

The State of California’s Stay Home Order will go into effect on Sunday, December 6 at 11:59 pm in Ventura County and in all counties in Southern California, after the Southern California Region’s hospital ICU capacity dropped below 15%. The order closes many businesses and activities and urges people to stay at home whenever possible.  The California Department of Public Health reported on Friday evening that Southern California’s ICU capacity dropped to 13.1%, triggering the Stay Home Order. The order requires bars, wineries, nail salons, hair salons and barbershops, and other personal care services to close. Private gatherings of any size are prohibited. Restaurants can stay open for takeout and delivery, but they have to shut down both indoor and outdoor dining. 

Due to increasing case rates, Ventura County will move back to the more restrictive COVID-19 Tier 1 Purple. “Community members have taken action. Our average number of tests per day per 100,000 population was in the 200s and has increased to 400 this past week. This hard work from the community allowed for the State to provide the County with an adjustment factor downward. However, because our case rate was at 12 the week ending November 7th, even with the large adjustment factor, we were not able to get under the required metric of 7 or less,” said Mike Powers, County Executive Officer. “Testing is still very important for future case rate adjustments, but also for the Public Health team’s timely and effective contact investigation and tracing efforts. We are encouraging all community members to get tested. Testing is available 7 days a week at sites throughout our County.”