California imposes nighttime COVID-19 curfew but some resist

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is imposing a nighttime curfew as its coronavirus figures soar but it will lean heavily on voluntary compliance and sheriffs of some counties say they won’t enforce it.

What officials are calling a limited stay-at-home order requires people who are not on essential errands to stay home from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. starting Saturday. The order will last until Dec. 21 but could be extended if disease trends don’t improve.

The curfew is less strict than the near-total ban on nonessential business and travel that Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed in March and which he credited with flattening the rate of COVID-19 cases, despite a summer peak.

But along with many other states, California is now seeing surges in virus infections, hospitalizations and deaths that threaten to overwhelm its health care system.

The first lockdown affected all residents, day and night, but Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s top health officer, said late at night is the time most likely to involve social activities that bring increased risk of infection, particularly if people drink and let down their guard on precautions such as wearing masks and staying a safe distance apart.

The curfew covers 94% of the state’s nearly 40 million residents. It’s in place in 41 of the state’s 58 counties that have the most significant increases in virus cases and face the most severe restrictions under California’s four-tier system for reopening the economy.

Hospitalizations are up nearly 64% in two weeks and the positivity rate — the percentage of people testing positive for the virus — has increased more than 50% and now stands at 5.6% for the last seven days.

“The virus is spreading at a pace we haven’t seen since the start of this pandemic, and the next several days...