California's Newsom imposes new lockdown, includes county where he dined at upscale French restaurant

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday imposed an overnight curfew through December to stave off the state’s resurgent coronavirus cases.  

The limited stay-at-home order applies to 41 counties that account for nearly the entire state population of just under 40 million people.

Beginning Saturday, “non-essential work, movement and gatherings” in purple tier counties must stop between 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

The “Purple Tier” refers to the Golden State’s color-coded system that is based on the number of coronavirus cases in each county. Purple, or Tier 1, is the most severe level, indicating that the virus is widespread in the county, with more than seven cases per 100,000 residents.

A color-coded map available on covid19.ca.gov shows that as of Nov. 16, purple tier counties extend from northernmost Siskiyou County to the southernmost counties of Imperial and San Diego. Mariposa County and Alpine County appear to be the only two of the 58 counties in the Yellow, or Tier 1 category, where coronavirus cases are “minimal.”

Among the Purple Tier counties are Napa, where the Democratic governor attended a friend’s birthday party earlier this month at the upscale French Laundry restaurant – even as coronavirus cases were spiking and as he preached daily to exercise increased caution.