Citing rising rates of people testing positive for the coronavirus and jumps in hospitalizations, Gov. Gavin Newsom Monday ordered the closure of indoor operations at gyms, hair salons, houses of worship, personal-care services, malls and non-critical office settings.
The order affects all 30 counties on the state’s pandemic monitoring list — including San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties — and is effective at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday until further notice.
Newsom also ordered the statewide closure of indoor operations at restaurants, wineries, movie theaters, zoos, aquariums, family entertainment centers and card rooms — and the full closure of all bars. Those restrictions were already in place in counties on the state’s monitoring list, but the new order extended them statewide.
Newsom reiterated that the state’s enactment of health-restrictions was being handled with a “dimmer switch,” meaning the severity of the orders can be adjusted upward or downward based on the latest virus statistics and “trendlines.”
NEW: As #COVID19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise, 30 counties will now be required to CLOSE INDOOR OPERATIONS for:
-Fitness Centers
-Places of Worship
-Offices for Non-Critical Sectors
-Personal Care Services
-Hair Salons and Barbershops
-Malls— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 13, 2020
The state has been seeing record numbers of infections in recent days, along with increasing hospitalizations. As of Monday, Newsom said 6,485 were hospitalized across the state due to the coronavirus. The seven-day rolling average of people testing positive for the virus was 7.7%, Newsom said.
“This virus is not going away anytime soon,” Newsom said. “I hope all of us recognize that if we were still connected to some notion that somehow when it gets warm it’s going to go away or somehow it’s going to take summer months or weekends off, this virus has done neither. You’ve seen parts of the country with very hot … weather where you’re seeing an increase in positivity rates, an increase in hospitalizations and ICUs. Here in the state of California as we’re seeing triple-digit weather in many parts of our state, we’re still seeing an increase in the positivity rate, the community transmission. We’re seeing an increase in the spread of the virus.”
In San Diego, Supervisor Nathan Fletcher called the closures “unfortunate steps” that will have a “negative economic impact impact on business” but are nevertheless necessary to control the spread of the virus.
“For those business owners and employees who are there, we feel tremendously bad about having to be put in this situation of starting you up and then having to limit your operation,” he said.
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county health officer, said some of the activities that are not allowed indoors could still take place outside, such as a barber cutting hair outside his shop.
Updated at 5:30 p.m., Monday, July 13, 2020
— From Staff and Wire Reports
