According to a public health announcement made Thursday, restaurants, gyms, museums and movie theaters in Los Angeles County are being re-admitted for indoor activities. This is the first major reopening of businesses since the start of the pandemic.
The reopening will be triggered as soon as California reaches its goal of administering 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to residents in the most disadvantaged areas – which is likely to happen on Friday.
After removing the barrier, the state will relax the threshold needed for provinces to move from the most restrictive press category of its four-tier reopening blueprint, and a number of them – including Los Angeles – will occasionally clear to progress in the less restrictive red level. point over the weekend.
Indoor eateries are completely outside the purple level, but to a limited extent allowed in the red. The milestone will also result in extensive activity at retail and personal care services to increase capacity to 50%, while masking is required at all times and for all services.
If the vaccination threshold is reached Friday, the new public health officer order in LA County could take effect as early as Monday morning.
Under the new health order, private gatherings with up to three separate households would be allowed, with masking and removal required at all times. People who are fully vaccinated can meet in small numbers indoors with other people who are fully vaccinated without having to tighten up and remove the requirements.
“We plan to enter the red level soon, and it offers more reopening and permitted activities in LA County,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health. “This milestone is the result of businesses and individuals working together and doing their part to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. It is up to everyone – businesses and residents – to continue to weaken the transmission and to follow safety precautions carefully to keep everyone as safe as possible by preventing increases in cases. If even a relatively small number of businesses and individuals do not comply with the safety measures, many others experience tragic consequences. “
The new health order will be the first time in more than eight months that residents can eat indoors in a restaurant.
Once the new health officer order is implemented, restaurants are allowed to serve meals within 25%.
Visitors must sit at least eight feet from other tables, and indoors only one household with a maximum of six people per table is allowed. Restaurants can seat up to six people per table from three households eating together outside.
Restaurants need a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system “in good working order” and increase ventilation as much as possible.
Public health officials strongly recommend that all restaurant workers who interact with customers should receive additional masking protection above the current required face shield above face masks. It is recommended that workers get N95 masks, KN95 masks or double masks and a face shield.
In addition, public health officials strongly recommend that all employees working indoors be ‘informed about and offered opportunities to be vaccinated’, according to a statement released on Thursday.
Other changes that need to take place in the health officer order include:
- Museums, zoos and aquariums can open within 25%.
- Gymnasiums, fitness centers, yoga and dance studios can be open indoors with a capacity of 10%, with a masking requirement for all indoor activities.
- Movie theaters can only open 25% indoors with reserved seats only where each group sits at least six feet apart in all directions between other groups.
- Retail and personal care services can increase capacity to 50%, while masking is required at all times and for all services.
- Indoor shopping malls can increase capacity to 50%, with the common areas remaining closed; food lanes can open 25%, according to the restaurant guide for indoor eateries.
- Higher education institutions can reopen all permitted activities with the necessary security adjustments, except for residential housing, which remains below the current restrictions for the spring semester.
- Schools are allowed to reopen for personal tuition for students in grades 7-12 who comply with all state and provincial prescriptions.
For months, the scene within all the restaurants in LA County was the same – tables lined up, chairs stacked in corners or on top of tables and signs warning that customers were temporarily closed.
On July 1, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered the immediate closure of indoor operations at restaurants, wineries, tasting rooms, cinemas, zoos, museums and card rooms. His announcement comes after California broke a record for new daily coronavirus infections for the second consecutive day, according to The Times’ tracker.
The worst was yet to come, and LA County struggled to get its business rates low enough to reach the state’s threshold for reopening.
Thursday’s announcement comes about six weeks after LA County lifted its ban on outdoor dining, allowing restaurants to reopen their patios and tables outside at 50% capacity, with tables at least eight feet apart.
It was a much-needed relief for an industry affected not only by the closures, but also by the limited disposable income their patrons had. Many families chose to cook meals at home during the pandemic, both to save money and to limit exposure.
According to the National Restaurant Assn, an estimated 110,000 restaurants across the country have been closed since the pandemic.
Data compiled by California Restaurant Assn. shows that 1.4 million residents worked in restaurants before the pandemic. Since the closures in March last year, about 1 million of these workers have been laid off or struggled, and they have struggled to wait for deferred unemployment.
In previous attempts to reopen the economy, elected officials have sometimes made conflicting statements about how best to protect the public from the virus in the face of heavy unemployment and closure.
When the coronavirus spread across the country last year, Los Angeles County saw a fraction of the hospitalizations and deaths seen in New York and local officials – after emphasizing the importance of slowing down the reopening of the economy and estimate that it was taken before the decisions in July – late in May hastily announced that indoor dining will resume. The reopening led to a summer boom in cases.
Land supervisors later expressed regret for not providing clearer messages to the public, just because they could eat in a restaurant did not mean the pandemic was over. Health officials said that on June 20 – one day after LA County gave the pub, breweries, wineries and similar businesses the green light to reopen – more than 500,000 people visited the province’s newly reopened nightlife.
In early July, California increased its number of new coronavirus cases, filling some hospitals near capacity.
At the end of August, Newsom announced a four-tier system that mandated provinces met specific criteria before being allowed to open different business sectors.
“We’re going to be more stubborn this time,” Newsom told a news conference in Sacramento. “It’s stricter, but we believe in a more consistent approach.”
Since then, LA County, plagued by the high number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths, has not yet left the press level.
In recent years, resistance from local officials has been shown by the closures, many of which are coming under pressure from restaurateurs and business chambers to reopen.
Shortly before Thanksgiving, LA County public health officials announced that they would restrict all personal eateries and restaurants for at least three weeks – along with breweries, wineries and pubs – to pick-up and drop-off services only. The announcement comes after the province’s five-day average of new cases of coronavirus exceeded 4,000, a threshold set by officials for implementing the restriction.
A few days later, during a meeting of the Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose 5th District extends north from the Alhambra to the Kern County Line, submitted an emergency proposal to reclaim the ban on the dining room outside. , although health officials in the province said it was necessary. The measure was voted 3-2, with co-author Janice Hahn co-authoring and supporting the measure.
“This is the only business that allows customers to stay, and often for some time, unmask,” supervisor Sheila Kuehl said at the November meeting. ‘And that, I think, is enough to single it out right there. We tried, but the numbers went up. ”
Times authors Taryn Luna and Phil Willon contributed to this report.