California lifts virus stay-at-home orders, curfew statewide
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted stay-at-home orders throughout the state Monday in response to improving coronavirus conditions, a surprising move hailed by beleaguered businesses.
The turnaround came about a month after hospitals crafted emergency plans for rationing care and as intensive care unit capacity in the vast Southern California region currently stands at 0%. State data models forecast that the region’s ICU capacity will rise to 33% — the highest of any of the state’s five regions — by Feb. 21.
The lifting of the stay-at-home order allows restaurants and churches to resume outdoor operations and hair and nail salons to reopen in many areas, though local officials could choose to impose stricter rules. The state is also lifting a 10 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew.
Most California counties will return to the most restrictive purple tier of a four-tier, color-coded system for determining what businesses can be open.
Northern California was never under the stay-at-home order and the Greater Sacramento region exited two weeks ago. Now, the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley agricultural region and Southern California, covering the majority of the state’s counties, can exit the order.
Biden reverses Trump ban on transgender people in military
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed an order Monday reversing a Trump-era Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from serving in the military.
The new order, which Biden signed in the Oval Office during a meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, overturns a ban ordered by former President Donald Trump in a tweet during his first year in office. It immediately prohibits any service member from being forced out of the military on the basis of gender identity.
As he signed the order, Biden said, “What I’m doing is enabling all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform.”
The order directs the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to take steps to implement the order for the military and the Coast Guard. And it says they must re-examine the records of service members who were discharged or denied re-enlistment because of gender identity issues under the previous policy.