California is taking its biggest steps yet to roll back the reopening of the state’s economy amid a surge of new coronavirus cases, as Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered bars and many indoor businesses in 19 counties to close their doors once again.
The immediate closures affect businesses in counties where more than 70 percent of Californians live — including Santa Clara, Contra Costa and Solano counties in the Bay Area — and will be in effect for at least the next three weeks, Newsom said.
State officials have since May sought to bring shuttered sectors of daily life back piecemeal. But that work has been upended by the recent spike in new coronavirus cases, a rising percentage of tests that are coming back positive, as well as growing numbers of people hospitalized with the illness and — in a feared trend that has begun emerging this week — rising numbers of deaths from COVID-19 across California.
Now the state is clamping back down ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, which officials worry could further fuel the disease’s spread.
To that end, Newsom on Wednesday announced the closure of all state beaches in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, as well as the parking lots at state beaches throughout the Bay Area and parts of Southern California. While those beaches will remain open, authorities are hoping to prevent throngs of holiday crowds by limiting access to the busiest stretches of the state’s coastline.
The governor also pleaded with residents to avoid gathering with friends and family over the holiday, and encouraged counties that haven’t already canceled fireworks displays to do so, saying patriotism “can be expressed a little bit differently” in the midst of a pandemic.
“If we want to be independent from COVID-19, we have to be much more vigilant,” Newsom said Wednesday. “Please do not take your guard down.”
Public health officials across the state reported about 6,500 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, according to data compiled by this news organization. That was a decrease from a record-breaking day Tuesday, but continued to drive up California’s seven-day average of new cases, which has doubled since June 10.
Hospitalizations rose 32 percent over the past week for a total of 5,047 patients, while 79 more people with the virus died Wednesday. The state’s total caseload has risen to more than 237,000. Data as of Wednesday night did not include totals from Santa Barbara County, which has said it is experiencing delays in reporting.
“That’s why we’re moving forward at this moment in terms of mitigation strategies,” Newsom said. “We’re focusing and targeting local parts of the state where we’re seeing an increase in community spread and an increase in the positivity rate.”
Wednesday’s order applies to the 19 counties that have been on a watch list for extra monitoring for more than three days. Counties are on that list because of “indicators of concern,” which include increased transmission of coronavirus, increasing hospitalizations or limited hospital capacity.
The order requires counties to close indoor areas at restaurants, wineries and tasting rooms, movie theaters, zoos, card rooms and museums. Outdoor operations at those venues may continue, but bars must close down completely.
Because Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties both have yet to open such indoor facilities, the order serves to push off any reopening for at least three more weeks, while dine-in restaurants in Solano County must close. Santa Clara County is expected to release a new order sometime this week with its own next steps for reopening.
In Los Angeles County — which accounts for about half of California’s total cases, and is also on the state’s watch list — bars, wineries and breweries had reopened as of June 20, prompting a surge of visitors. Newsom ordered bars closed in Los Angeles County and six others earlier this week as cases rose there.
San Mateo County has reopened for indoor dining, but because it’s not on the state watch list, restaurants can remain open.
Other types of indoor businesses, such as retail, barber shops and salons, are not affected by the latest order and can remain open.
The full list of 19 counties affected by the order is: Contra Costa, Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Merced, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Solano, Stanislaus, Tulare and Ventura.
As the state reimposes restrictions, Newsom said California is also establishing new “strike teams” to enforce compliance at workplaces and businesses — with an initial focus on the 19 hot-spot counties. Members of Alcoholic Beverage Control, CalOSHA and the Department of Business Oversight, among others, will form partnerships with local health departments to begin inspecting worksites.
“We will have these agencies leverage their regulatory authorities and enforcement authorities to enforce the public health orders in place throughout the state,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the state’s Office of Emergency Services.
Newsom said the state is “not coming out with a fist,” and understands it can take time for businesses to shift their operations to comply with new coronavirus mandates. He also emphasized that enforcing these restrictions is primarily the job of local governments, but noted a budget provision that allows the state to withhold emergency aid from counties that fail to take action to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
“When people just thumb their nose, turn their back, and put your life at risk, put their workers’ lives at risk — that’s why we have rules, that’s why we have regulations, that’s why we have laws,” Newsom said.
