Indoor dining is about to return to Los Angeles County, with health officials confirming Thursday that they will allow restaurants in a limited capacity to welcome customers back into their dining rooms when the country is in the ‘red’ level of the four level economic reopening of the state moves. blueprint.
The province is expected to move into the “red” level as early as Monday.
Although the state’s ‘Blueprint for a Safer Economy’ is allowed within the ‘red’ level, individual provinces may impose stricter restrictions. Public health officials in Los Angeles County have repeatedly warned of the danger of spreading COVID-19 at restaurants, raising questions about whether they will approve indoor eateries as the country progresses from the most restrictive “purple” level.
Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer referred twice this week to a new federal study linking personal eateries to increases in COVID cases and deaths.
But the country on Thursday announced its reopening plans for a ‘red’ level, and it includes an indoor dining room with a state-owned capacity of 25%. The province will require restaurants to be 8 feet apart between all tables, which will be limited to a maximum of six people from the same household.
The rules also require that ventilation be increased “to the greatest extent possible.”
Restaurant servers must already wear a face mask and a face shield. With the new rules, the Department of Public Health “strongly” recommends that employees upgrade their face masks using higher-grade N95 or KN95 masks, or a combination of double masking and a face shield.
Health officials also strongly recommend that all employees be informed about and offered the chance to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Food service workers are already eligible to receive the shots.
Rules for other businesses as soon as the country enters the “red” level are largely in line with state guidelines:
- museums, zoos and aquariums can open indoors within 25% of their capacity
- gyms and fitness centers can open indoors with a capacity of 10%, with the required masking
- movie theaters can open 25% with reserved seats to provide at least six feet of distance between customers
- retail and personal care businesses can increase indoor capacity up to 50%
- indoor shopping malls can reopen with 50%, but the common areas remain closed, but food lanes can open 25% and meet the other requirements for indoor restaurants.
By moving to the ‘red’ level, the theme parks could be reopened on April 1 – including Disneyland in Orange County and Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles County – with 15% of capacity, only visitors in the state.
The rules also provide for the resumption of activities at higher education institutions and the reopening of personal education for students in grades 7-12. Private indoor gatherings are also allowed for people from up to three different households, with masking and physical distance. People who are vaccinated can get together in small groups indoors without disguising or removing them.
Official health officials said they expected to officially enter the “red” level between midnight morning and next Wednesday. The exact time will depend on when the state reaches a threshold announced by the government Gavin Newsom to administer 2 million doses of COVID vaccine. communities with the lowest incomes of the state.
Newsom said this week that the state will reach that threshold by Friday. As of Thursday morning, the state has administered 1,971,784 doses of vaccines in those low-income communities. Ferrer had earlier said the province was expected to officially move to the “red” level 48 hours after the state reached the vaccination threshold.
Plan your vaccine: how and where to be vaccinated.
According to Newsom’s recent guidelines, the provinces will be able to leave the most limited “purple” level of blueprint if the average rate of daily new COVID-19 infections reaches 10 per 100,000 inhabitants – a looser standard than the current 7 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Under the new guidelines, both the states of Los Angeles and Orange will immediately be eligible to go to the less restrictive ‘red’ level, as they have been below the standard 10 per 100,000 for two weeks. The new Los Angeles County rate is currently 5.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, while Orange County is 6 per 100,000.
The idea behind the 2 million dose threshold is to ensure that vaccines are distributed fairly by the state, to ensure that low-income communities that are excessively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are not overlooked in the vaccination effort. Newsom ordered that 40% of the state’s vaccine stock be earmarked to ensure fairness in the distribution process.
Just a few months ago, the wait in long queues to be tested for COVID-19 was not uncommon, but today NBC4’s I-Team learned that far fewer people are now waiting in line, although it is still important to wait for COVID-19 to be tested to end the pandemic. Investigative Reporter Joel Grover reports March 10, 2021.
Ferrer warned the board of supervisors on Tuesday that although numbers and the test positivity rate in the country have declined sharply over the past few weeks, things could easily get worse if residents become lax about controlling infections.
“This is the month I would say – the month of March, the beginning of April – where we have to be extremely careful,” she said. ‘Because we’ve been here before. We were here with reopening. We were already here on a journey with Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have seen what happens around holidays if we are not really careful. … We must all live now so that they can be vaccinated and stay alive. So it would be a time for extreme caution. ‘
She specifically pointed out the spread of virus variants that cause COVID-19, which can spread more easily from person to person. Ferrer said the variant, first identified in the UK, is expanding its reach in Los Angeles County, and now believes it is responsible for 10% of all COVID cases in the country.
“There has also been growing concern about a global fourth wave COVID-19 as business began to pick up in the last week of February, after six weeks of decline, particularly in Europe,” she said.
On Thursday, the country reported another 101 COVID-19 deaths, although three of those deaths were announced Wednesday by health officials in Long Beach. The new deaths increased the nationwide death toll from throughout the pandemic to 22,304.
Another 1,378 cases were announced by the country. The new cases increased the cumulative pandemic to 1,208,024.
According to state figures, as of Thursday, there were 1,015 people in the country in the hospital due to COVID, with 287 people in intensive care.