LA Sheriff Villanueva: “I Don’t Want To Make Them More Miserable” Won’t Enforce Newsom’s Business Lockdown Orders

Fox News had the story here: 

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva will not instruct his deputies to enforce a new statewide stay-at-home order announced Thursday that could force businesses to temporarily shut down as coronavirus cases continue to soar.

"I want to stay away from business [sic] that are trying to comply, they bent over backwards to modify their operations to conform to these orders and then they have the rug yanked out from under them, that's a disservice, I don't want to make them more miserable," he told Fox affiliate, KTTV-TV, according to a tweet.

Under Gov. Gavin Newsom's order, many businesses and activities would be forced to close for at least three weeks if capacity rates at intensive care units in several regions -- the Bay Area, Northern California, the greater Sacramento region, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California --  dip below 15%.

The new rules would be implemented within 48 hours of hitting that level.

The Daily Wire was not shy with the details: 

Bill Melugin of KTTV tweeted that Sheriff Villanueva “tells me he found out about the new stay at home orders from Governor Newsom’s press conference, and there was no coordination with law enforcement beforehand, which he says is concerning when the Governor is expecting enforcement of his orders.”

Melugin added, “Sheriff Villanueva says he believes the Lakers & Dodgers celebrations and Thanksgiving played a part in our recent surges, and that the civil unrest protests earlier in the year contributed to an earlier surge. Doesn’t believe restaurants, etc, are to blame.

California governor Gavin Newsom’s website stated on Thursday that a new regional stay-at-home order had been issued. The site avoided naming Newsom, stating, “California health officials today announced a Regional Stay at Home Order that will be triggered if Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity drops below 15 percent in a given region.”

“Residents are required to stay at home as much as possible and minimize mixing to reduce unnecessary exposure, while still being able to do important things like go to the doctor, buy groceries, pick up take out, go on a hike, or worship outdoors,” the announcement states. “K-12 schools that are already open can remain open and retailers can operate indoors at no more than 20 percent capacity to reduce exposure risk. The public health order takes effect at 12:59 p.m. on December 5. Thereafter, if a region falls below the 15 percent ICU threshold, it will have 24 hours to implement the Stay at Home Order.”