California Ends State of Emergency After 1,091 Days
California officially became the 43rd state to end its emergency due to COVID-19 on February 28, 2023. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the original state of emergency declaration on March 4, 2020, lasting 1,091 days.
By signing the proclamation to end the state of emergency, Governor Newsom attests that the conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property that COVID-19 presents no longer exist. Emergency orders remain in Delaware, New Mexico, Colorado, Georgia, Rhode Island, Texas, and Illinois.
First States to End Emergency Orders
Michigan was the first to end its state of emergency order due to legal challenges in the Michigan Supreme Court. The Court determined Governor Gretchen Whitmer exceeded state constitutional authority to institute a statewide emergency order without approval from the Michigan legislature. The Michigan state of emergency ended via legal challenge on October 12, 2020, after only 222 days. Wisconsin encountered similar legal challenges with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and ended its state of emergency on March 31, 2021.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum was the first governor to end a COVID emergency declaration voluntarily. On April 21, 2021, Burgum vetoed a bill prohibiting statewide mask mandates, only to have his veto overturned by the North Dakota legislature the following day. On April 30, 2021, all COVID-related executive orders ended in North Dakota. Fourteen additional states followed shortly after that.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson led a second wave of states ending emergency orders, saying, "Everyone knows what to do; it is not an emergency, it is a maintenance of effort in terms of our vaccines and managing the pandemic."
Oregon Governor Kate Brown ended the two-year-old emergency order on April 1, 2022, citing a decline in COVID-19 numbers. That same day the California Department of Public Health relaxed public reporting frequency on COVID from daily to twice a week, reflecting a reduction in COVID data collection intensity.
California’s Emergency Order
California and other states have been criticized by their respective state legislatures for being slow to end their emergency orders relative to the rest of the country. Assemblyman James Gallagher of Yuba City and former Assemblyman, now Congressman, Kevin Kiley of Rocklin, sued Governor Newsom in 2020 with claims that the governor overstepped his executive authority. However, the California Supreme Court declined to hear the lawsuit.
Gallagher introduced AB 1075, which would limit any emergency the governor declares to 60 days unless affirmatively extended by a vote of the Legislature. It also attempts to prevent the governor from changing laws through executive action. "We shouldn't be making law by executive order," Gallagher said. "We should be doing it through the legislative process, and that's what needs to change."
Illinois will be the last state to schedule its emergency to end on May 11, 2023. This announcement coincides with the Biden Administration's position that it would end the Federal public health emergency on the same day.
Governor Newsom has announced plans to maintain California's operational preparedness to address the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic with the state's SMARTER Plan. The $3.2 billion program aims to continue the "Vaccinate all 58" public education campaign to provide reliable information and build vaccine confidence amongst California's 58 counties. Features include support for in-home vaccination and testing programs and transportation arrangements for those Californians unable to travel, as well as free transportation to vaccination appointments throughout the state to help get more Californians vaccinated and boosted.
The California Department of Public Health reports that 12.1 million cases of COVID-19 were recorded in California through the end of the emergency resulting in 104,000 deaths.
COVID-19 Impacts on Nevada County
Nevada County, with a population of 98,710, recorded 133 confirmed deaths from COVID. The last recorded COVID death in Nevada County was on February 15, 2023. Nevada County Public Health uses multiple sources to verify that a recorded death is COVID-associated, including speaking with physicians, reviewing medical records, and consulting medical examiners.
A total of 286,000 tests were administered in Nevada County, resulting in 20,125 cumulative reported cases of COVID positive infection in Nevada County during the state of emergency. As of April 4, 2023, a total of 205,718 cumulative total doses of the vaccine were administered, resulting in a vaccination rate of approximately 73% for all of Nevada County. Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer (54.0%), Moderna (43.6%), and Johnson & Johnson (2.1%) manufactured 99.7% of all vaccines administered in Nevada County.
A notice of recall was served upon all five sitting Nevada County supervisors in 2021 in part for their countywide response to COVID-19. Supervisor Dan Miller (ret.) was the only supervisor in Nevada County to publicly lobby Nevada County Public Health, in person and in writing, to lift shutdown and quarantine mandates when facts showed they were ineffective.
