California developing plan to re-open as virus spread slows

By Sharon Bernstein and Dan Whitcomb

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California is developing a plan to ease social distancing rules incrementally as the pace of new cases and hospitalizations from the novel coronavirus appears to be moderating in the most populous U.S. state, Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday.

The plan, to be released on Tuesday, will be based on "broad strokes" and any movement to ease public health restrictions will not begin until the rate of spread actually declines, Newsom said.

Cases are still "growing, but in a moderate way," Newsom said at his daily press briefing. By Monday morning, 22,348 people in California had been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, including 3,015 in hospitals and 1,178 in intensive care, he said.

California is one of nine states to begin planning for the slow reopening of their economies and lifting of strict stay-at-home orders amid signs the worst has passed in the U.S. coronavirus pandemic.

The state will join with Oregon and Washington to develop a coordinated West Coast plan, governors of the three states said. In the Northeast, the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will work with Delaware, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island in coordinating to gradually reopen their economies, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

However, it was not immediately clear when such efforts might begin.

A slowing of the rate of increase in hospitalizations over the past several days has offered hope, but the number of deaths in California has more than doubled over the past week, rising from 343 fatalities on April 6 to 687 by Monday morning.

Increases in caseloads across the state have varied. In Los Angeles County, for example, the number of new cases has declined most, though not for all days over the past week, state data show. In Monterey County, however, the number of new cases has risen over the same period.

Newsom acknowledged that while the number of new cases appeared to be growing more slowly overall, some parts of the state were still seeing relatively rapid increases.

"The experience we're having is very different depending on what part of the state we reside in," he said.

California Public Health Director Sonia Angell said some of the variation across the state is due to urban density, as cases moved rapidly in early hotspots. The availability of testing has also impacted the number of cases reported in various regions, she said.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bill Tarrant and Dan Grebler)

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