[6][7][8] All of the early confirmed cases were persons who had recently travelled to China, as testing was restricted to this group, but there were some other people infected by that point.

[14] A bipartisan effort of politicians and owners of restaurants, bars, gyms, spas, and other small businesses harmed by lockdown restrictions attempted to recall Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021; he won the election with 66% support.

The person, who had returned from travel to Wuhan, China, was released from the hospital in Orange County on February 1 in good condition to in-home isolation.

[22] On January 29, 2020, as disease containment protocols were still being developed, the U.S. Department of State evacuated 195 of its employees, their families, and other U.S. citizens from Hubei Province aboard a chartered flight to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County.

[24][25] On February 2, the CDC confirmed the state's third case in a woman in Santa Clara County, California, who had recently traveled to Wuhan.

[26] On the same day, the CDC reported the country's tenth and eleventh cases in San Benito County, including the second known instance of human-to-human transmission.

[29] On February 15, the government evacuated 338 U.S. nationals stranded aboard the cruise ship Diamond Princess, which had been held in quarantine in Yokohama, Japan.

[31] Five more nationals with COVID-19 were evacuated from the ship the following week and were quarantined at Travis Air Force Base; several more cases among the evacuees were later confirmed.

[35] After this first confirmed case of community transmission in the U.S.,[36] the CDC revised its criteria for testing patients for SARS-CoV-2 and issued new guidelines for healthcare workers.

[46] By September 3, 2020, Hispanic and Latino Americans comprised up to 60 percent of COVID-19 cases in the state, ostensibly due to the large population of the demographic and many of them being a part of the essential workforce.

In 2006, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered creation of an epidemic-ready medical equipment stockpile, including three 200-bed mobile hospitals with 50 million N95 respirators, 2,400 ventilators, and 21,000 additional patient beds.

[56] By mid-March, 2020, when Newsom issued the first statewide shelter-in-place order,[57] 220 of 292 California hospitals surveyed already reported that they were having to limit use of masks, often severely.

[60][61][62][63][64][65] As of July 29, 2020[update], local agencies reported 127 deaths from a total of 23,513 confirmed positive cases among healthcare workers in California.

[76] In March 2020, there were calls for crowdsourcing on social media, to donate masks, goggles, or other equipment to healthcare professionals,[77] including from major medical centers.

They also worked with hundreds of individuals in the Bay Area with 3D printers at home, who then brought their produces to Maker Nexus for final assembly and delivery.

[125] Rehab programs, religious services, and educational classes were all stopped, but the prison factories continued operating, where inmates worked for hours without wearing masks.

[125] Various faith organizations claim that social distancing orders issued by the state violated the constitutional right to freedom of religion and assembly.

[citation needed] The United States Supreme Court denied to grant an emergency injunction on Newsom's May orders limiting churches to 25% capacity or 100 persons maximum ahead of the Pentecost on May 31.

[130] The first U.S. sports cancellations attributed to the pandemic occurred in California; in accordance with a local health emergency in Riverside County, the 2020 BNP Paribas Open tennis tournaments at Indian Wells were postponed on March 8, 2020.

[134] After Santa Clara County banned all large gatherings larger than 1,000 people for a three-week period beginning March 11, the San Jose Sharks of the NHL and the Golden State Warriors of the NBA announced that all of their remaining home games of the regular season would be played behind closed doors with no spectators.

[135][136][137] However, on March 11, after Utah Jazz players tested positive for COVID-19, the NBA suspended its regular season, and almost all other professional sports leagues and college athletics programs followed suit over the days that followed.

Accordingly, a planned reconstruction of the track was also postponed to 2022 [148] It was also announced that the 2021 IndyCar Series schedule would be modified to move the Grand Prix of Long Beach from April to September as the season finale, with organizers stating that this would "afford us the best opportunity to provide our guests with a fun and exciting experience in a safe and unrestricted environment.

"[149] The Pac-12 Conference (which includes several universities in California) delayed its college football season to November, and all games were closed to the public.

[150] On December 19, 2020, it was announced that the 2021 Rose Bowl (a College Football Playoff semi-final game) would be re-located from Pasadena to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas due to the current surge in local cases, and inability to invite the families of players as spectators.

It was the first time since 1942 (due to wartime restrictions on public gatherings on the west coast following the Pearl Harbor attack) that the Rose Bowl was not held in Pasadena.

[153] A survey conducted April 17 found that fewer than half of the residents of Los Angeles County were employed, although some of this unemployment was supposed to be temporary.

[161] High cost of living and housing prices create a significant challenge for Californians and are a major reason for people leaving.

[163] The highest number of people moving due in part to COVID-19 occurred in November 2020, with roughly 20% of movers reporting the pandemic to be a factor in their decision.

[171] Minority residents of the state were in addition found to be receiving a smaller share of the vaccines in the initial months than their fraction of the population.

It will also include a QR code that can be scanned by a SMART Health Card app for proof of vaccination as an official record of the state of California.