In a Thursday night address, Calif Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) issued a statewide stay-at-home order, a move he said would help “bend the curve in the state of California.”

By ordering California residents to stay at home except for essential activities, Newsom followed the lead of counties in the San Francisco Bay area which recently issued similar orders, as well as Los Angeles County, which announced a stay-at-home order earlier Thursday. He said the directive would go into effect Thursday evening and did not give a timeline for how long it will last.

Newsom said he hoped people would abide by it, “do the right thing and meet this moment … to protect themselves, protect their families and protect the broader community.”

The governor said the sweeping changes, which cover some 40 million people in the country’s most populous state, are necessary to avoid overwhelming the health-care system with coronavirus patients. California’s hospitals are not currently able to meet projected patients, Newsom warned.

The National Guard will provide support at food banks and other humanitarian businesses that have lost volunteers, he said.

“We can make decisions to meet moments. This is a moment we need to make tough decisions,” he said. “This is a moment where we need some straight talk and we need to tell people the truth. We need to bend the curve in the state of California.”

According to Newsom, at the current rate, 56 percent of the state — 25.5 million residents — will have the coronavirus within eight weeks. Newsom shared the projection in a letter to President Trump in explaining his request for the Navy’s USNS Mercy, a hospital ship, to be sent to the California coast.

Newsom closed his remarks by decrying the racism and xenophobia directed at Asian Americans in the state.

Trump has been criticized for referring to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus.”