Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered the immediate closure of indoor operations at restaurants, wineries, tasting rooms, movie theaters, zoos, museums and card rooms in 19 counties — including Los Angeles County — that California officials have been monitoring for increases in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.
“The bottom line is that the spread of this virus continues at a rate that is particularly concerning,” Newsom said, noting that closures will last for at least three weeks.
The mandate follows county officials’ announcement Monday that 49% of bars and 33% of restaurants in the county were not adhering to social distancing protocols in the last week. Additionally, inspectors found that workers at 54% of bars and 44% of restaurants were not wearing face masks or shields.
Health officials said that on June 20 — one day after Los Angeles County gave the green light for bars, breweries, wineries and similar businesses to reopen — more than 500,000 people visited the county’s newly reopened nightlife spots.
Officials had previously said that of the 3,571 restaurants that had been visited over three consecutive weekends from May 30 to June 13, 83% were not in full compliance with the county’s coronavirus safety rules.
There are more than 40,000 restaurants in L.A. County. Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said that officials are trying to inspect every restaurant in the county, starting with those that have had past citations. But the order of inspection is fairly random, she said.
The news came after California broke a record for the most coronavirus infections reported — 8,610 cases, according to The Times’ tracker — for the second consecutive day.
It was the second time the state has recorded more than 8,000 cases in a single day, another troubling sign that COVID-19 is spreading more rapidly in communities across the state.
The percent of coronavirus tests coming back positive in California continues to rise — hitting 5.95% Tuesday, a Los Angeles Times analysis found, up from 5.28% a week earlier, and 4.45% a week before that. That’s another indication that disease spread is worsening.
Coronavirus keeps raging in L.A. County, other parts of California. The state as a whole hit a grim milestone Tuesday when it exceeded 6,000 deaths.
Los Angeles County reported the third straight day of more than 2,100 additional confirmed cases. Officials reported 45 more COVID-19-related deaths and 2,779 new cases. Roughly 1.1 million residents had been tested for the virus. As of Wednesday, there were no available appointments at county- or city-run sites. Officials had warned Monday that testing would be limited this week due to the upcoming holiday weekend, but in recent weeks, testing capacity has proved to be a challenge. Last week, appointments filled up amid officials’ ongoing calls for residents to get tested.
The rate of positive infections has increased to 9% in the county, which does not meet the state’s positivity rate threshold of 8% or less for continued reopenings.
The state is currently monitoring 19 counties for surges in cases and hospitalizations. The growing catalog lists the following counties: 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.
At a news conference earlier Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that four more counties were likely to be added to the watch list, but he did not indicate which ones.
Monday brought L.A.’s highest single-day tally to date, which pushed the county past 100,000 infections.
“The L.A. County community needs to come together again to slow the spread of COVID-19, and we need to act with haste and urgency,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement.
Orange County set its own daily record Tuesday, with 779 new confirmed coronavirus cases. The county now has nearly 14,000 cases and 340 deaths.
On the same day, California as a whole hit a grim milestone when it exceeded 6,000 deaths. That is still far fewer than other coronavirus hot spots, such as New York and New Jersey, but the increase in overall case numbers and the stress on hospitals are raising alarms.
The enormous surge in cases, which now total more than 223,900 statewide, has prompted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to order anyone traveling to his state from California — and 15 other states that have seen recent surges — to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Gov. Gavin Newsom warns that he plans to announce new coronavirus restrictions ahead of the July 4 weekend in California as community spread grows.
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Newsom said he plans Wednesday to announce further restrictions intended to stem the spread of the virus.
“We’ll be making some additional announcements on efforts to use that dimmer switch that we’ve referred to and begin to toggle back on our stay-at-home order and tighten things up,” Newsom said. “The framework for us is this: If you’re not going to stay home, and you’re not going to wear masks in public, we have to enforce, and we will.”
The governor warned that changes would also include restrictions on indoor gatherings but did not provide details. Newsom said family gatherings have been one of the “areas of biggest concern” as immediate and extended family members have been mixing together.
On Tuesday, Ventura County joined Los Angeles County in closing beaches during the holiday.
Laguna Beach City Council members voted to close city beaches Tuesday night, as Huntington Beach officials opted to keep them open, and Newport Beach officials are still mulling plans.
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