Gov. Gavin Newsom Orders California’s 40 Million Residents to ‘Stay at Home,’ Unless Absolutely Necessary: WATCH

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered residents of the nation’s most populous state to “stay at home,” unless absolutely necessary, until further notice.

“This is a moment we need to make tough decisions,” Newsom said late Thursday. “This is a moment where we need some straight talk and we need to tell people the truth: We need to bend the curve in the state of California.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statewide ‘stay at home’ order directing residents to leave their homes only when necessary during the coronavirus pandemic https://t.co/nfHgMcG1cw pic.twitter.com/W7iHXAVK7L

— Reuters (@Reuters) March 20, 2020

BuzzFeed News reports: Newsom announced the order late Thursday just an hour after officials in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the US, issued a similar mandate. Earlier this week, their Bay Area counterparts handed down similar “shelter-in-place” orders, the strictest measures taken in the country so far. … Across the state of California, health officials have confirmed 675 cases of COVID-19 and 16 deaths from the disease as of Wednesday evening, behind Washington state and New York, where more than 5,000 cases have been confirmed.

More from CNN: Under the order, essential services such as groceries, pharmacies, gas stations, farmers markets, food banks, convenience stores and delivery restaurants will remain open. So will banks, local government offices that provide services and law enforcement agencies. Newsom’s order follows his request to President Donald Trump to send a US Navy medical ship to provide more health care options for the state.”We project that roughly 56% of our state’s population — 25.5 million people — will be infected with the virus over an eight-week period,” he said in a Wednesday letter to Trump asking him to send the USNS Mercy hospital ship to the Port of Los Angeles for use through September 1. … Coronavirus tracking models show its spread in California could require the hospitalization of more than 19,000 people beyond the state’s current capacity.

Watch Newsom’s full speech below.