California orders its nearly 40 million residents to stay home to prevent the spread of coronavirus

CNN)California ordered its nearly 40 million residents to stay home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, marking the first statewide mandatory restrictions issued in the United States. 

Nineteen people have died and more than 900 have tested positive for the disease in the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom's order goes into effect Thursday evening and remains in place until further notice. 

Under the order, essential services such as gas stations, pharmacies, grocery stores, farmers markets, food banks, convenience stores and delivery restaurants will remain open. So will banks, local government offices that provide programs and services, and law enforcement agencies.

Nonessential services such as dine-in restaurants, bars, gyms and convention centers will shut down.

Newsom's order comes after he asked President Donald Trump to send a US Navy medical ship to provide more health care options for the state, warning that more than half of California's population could get infected in two months.

"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