Restaurants, gyms, museums and movie theaters in Los Angeles County will soon be allowed to reopen for indoor activity, according to a public health announcement made Thursday, marking the first major opening of businesses since the epidemic began.
California will achieve its goal of giving 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to residents in its most deprived areas or reopen soon – which is likely to happen on Friday.
After clearing this hurdle, the state will ease the threshold required for counties to move from the most restricted purple category of its four-tier re-closed blueprint, clearing many of them – including Los Angeles – to point to a less restricted red level over the weekend.
Indoor dining is completely limited to purple, but in limited capacity it is allowed in red. The milestone will also stimulate extended activity on retail and personal care services, allowing a 50% increase in capacity at all times and with the masking required for all services.
If the vaccination threshold is met on Friday, the new LA County Public Health Officer’s order will take effect early Monday morning.
Under the new health order, private gatherings in three different homes will require masking and spacing at all times. Those who are fully vaccinated may gather in small numbers indoors who are fully vaccinated without the need for masks and spacing.
“We plan to move to Red Tire very soon, and that allows for more reopening and permitting 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 the spread of COVID-19. Businesses and residents – everyone – will have to keep the transmission down and follow the safety guidelines closely to keep everyone as safe as possible by preventing the case from escalating. While a relatively small number of businesses and individuals fail to comply with safety precautions, many others suffer tragic consequences. “
The new health order will mark the first time in more than eight months that residents will dine indoors at a restaurant.
Once the new health officer’s order is implemented, restaurants will be allowed to serve meals indoors at 25% capacity.
The patron must sit at least eight feet apart from other tables, and indoors, a single house with a maximum of six people per table is allowed. Restaurant rentals can allow up to six people per table to dine together.
Rest Restaurants rentals require heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems “in order to work well” and increase ventilation as much as possible.
Public health officials strongly recommend that all restaurant staff communicating with customers indoors be given additional masking protection over face masks currently required. It is recommended that workers be given an N95 mask, a KN95 mask or a double mask and a face mask.
In addition, public health officials strongly recommend that all employees working indoors be “vigilant about vaccinations and be offered opportunities,” a statement issued Thursday said. LA County Food Service workers who work in restaurant dining, table service, carry-out and food preparation are eligible for the vaccine from March 1.
Other changes to the health officer’s order include:
- Museums, zoos and aquariums can open indoors with a capacity of 25%.
- Gym, fitness centers, yoga and dance studios can open indoors within 10% capacity with masking requirement for all indoor activities.
- Movie theaters can open at 25% capacity with a reserved seat inside the house where each group is seated with a distance of at least six feet in the direction between any other groups.
- Retail and personal care services can increase capacity by up to 50% with the masking required at all times and for all services.
- Indoor shopping malls can increase capacity by 50% with common areas closed; Food courts can open at 25% capacity Follow restaurant guidelines for indoor dining.
- Institutions of higher learning may reopen all approved activities with the required security change except for residential accommodation, which is currently under restriction for the spring session.
- Schools are allowed to reopen for personal instruction for 7th-grade students following all state and county guidelines.
For months, the scene at all LA County Restaurant Rents was the same – tables planted, chairs in the corner or on top of tables, and signs warning patrons that the table was temporarily closed.
On July 1, government Gavin News ordered an immediate halt to indoor operations at restaurants, wineries, testing rooms, movie theaters, zoos, museums and card rooms. The announcement was made after breaking the record for 8,610 cases – a new daily coronavirus infection in California for the second day in a row – according to the Times Tracker.
The worst was yet to come, and LA County struggled to get low enough to meet the state threshold to reopen its case rate.
The announcement was made Thursday, six weeks after LA County lifted its ban on outdoor dining, allowing restaurants to reopen their boxes and tables outside with 50% capacity, with tables at least eight feet apart.
The industry needed relief not only from the shutdown but also from the limited disposable income of their supporters. Many families chose to cook meals at home during the epidemic, both to save money and to limit exposure.
According to the national restaurant Ason, about 110,000 restaurants across the country have been closed due to the epidemic.
Data compiled by California restaurant Ason. Show that 1.4 million residents worked in restaurants before the epidemic. Since closing last March, 1 million of these workers have been laid off or stranded, and are struggling with delays in paying unemployment benefits.
In an effort to reopen the economy, elected officials have at times made contradictory statements about how to best protect people from the virus against unemployment and the heavy toll of closure.
Last spring, however, as the coronavirus spread across the country, Los Angeles County saw a fraction of hospitalized deaths and deaths in New York, and local officials – after emphasizing the importance of moving slowly to restart the economy – predicted it would be July. Decisions were made after the installation – in late May hastily announced that indoor dining would resume. The reopening led to an increase in cases over the summer.
County supervisors later regretted not giving a clear message to the public that just because they could eat at a restroom does not mean the epidemic was over. On June 20 – a day after LA County gave green light to reopen bars, breweries, wineries and the like – more than 500,000 people visited the county’s newly opened nightlife spot, health officials said.
In early July, California saw an increase in cases of its new coronavirus, with some hospitals filling up close to capacity.
In late August, Newsme announced a four-tier system that required counties to meet certain metrics before allowing various business areas to open.
“We will be more stubborn this time,” Newsme said during a news conference in Sacramento. “This is tougher, but we believe in a more stable, approach.”
Since then, new cases, hospital admissions and high rates of death have plagued L.A. The county has left a purple color.
Over the past year, the closure has been met with resistance from local authorities, many of whom have faced pressure from re-founders and the Chamber of Commerce to reopen.
Shortly before Thanksgiving, LA County public health officials announced that they would have at least three weeks of all-individual meals and with breweries, wineries and bars – limited to the withdrawal and delivery service only. The announcement came after the county brought the new coronavirus case to a peak of 4,000 on a five-day average, a threshold officials were preparing to implement the ban.
A few days later at a County Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Catherine Berger, whose 5th District extends north from Alhambra to the Kern County Line, presented an emergency proposal to lift the outside dining ban, though county health officials said. Required. Supervisor Janice Hahn co-wrote and supported the move and voted it down 2-2.
“This is the only business that lets its customers stay, and often unseam,” Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said at the November meeting. “And, I think, there’s enough to make him stand out. We tried, but the number has increased. “
Times staff writers Taryn Luna and Phil Willow contributed to this report.
