CALIFORNIA—On July 1, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced new orders to shutdown restaurants and entertainment centers in 19 California counties as a response to a rapid rise in coronavirus cases across the state.
“As a consequence, we are doing everything we can to focus in on certain sectors of our economy where that spread is more likely to occur, where that spread could be potentially more concentrated, and to mitigate that spread to the extent we can”, Newsom said during a news briefing on July 1.
“We have worked together to put out the following news in the state. Certain sectors of the state we are now requiring that they close their indoor operations due to the spread of the virus. This applies to all counties that have been on what we refer to as the county monitoring list, for at least three consecutive days,” Newsom further explained during the briefing.
Newsom’s order requires restaurants, wineries, and tasting rooms to halt indoor operations. However, there is an exception for outdoor dining. Establishments that have been previously approved to operate outdoors may continue to do so. Newsom also ordered the full closure of all bars and breweries in all 19 counties, citing that they are “high risk” locations. In addition, certain entertainment centers, such as movie theaters, museums, zoos, and arcades that were previously given the OK to reopen must still remain closed until further notice.
Three Bay Area counties were listed in Newsom’s monitoring list, which includes Contra Costa, Santa Clara and Solano counties. Other counties affected by this order include Los Angeles, Orange County, Fresno, Stanislaus, Sacramento, Imperial, Gleen, Kern, Kings, Riverside, Merced, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura. Combined, the 19 counties make up for approx. 70% of California’s population.
