Newsom: Restaurants, bars, movie theaters must close again in 19 California counties
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday tightened coronavirus restrictions for most of California, as a COVID-19 surge and more deaths have been reported ahead of the Fourth of July weekend.
Newsom told 19 counties to close their indoor operations, like bars, wine tasting rooms, zoos, restaurants and movie theaters for at least three weeks.
The list includes Contra Costa County, Santa Clara and Solano counties in the Bay Area, as well as Los Angeles County. These counties have been on the monitoring list for three consecutive days.
The remaining counties are: Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Merced, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Stanislaus, Tulare and Ventura.
In all, the counties encompass more than 70% of California’s population.
Among the activities not on the governor's closure list: Churches, gyms, retail stores, nail and hair salons.
Newsom hints he will tighten coronavirus restrictions in California ahead of July 4
State beaches will be open over the weekend, but parking lots in Southern California and the Bay Area will be closed.
Counties with mandatory closures should consider canceling fireworks shows, and Newsom implored families to be safe, or not to meet at all, over the long weekend celebrating Independence Day.
19 counties were ordered to close down restaurants, bars and movies again. July 1, 2020
"The bottom line is that we are seeing increases that are particularly alarming," Newsom said. "We are doing everything we can to focus on certain sectors of our economy....We're going to bend the curve again."
Newsom said he hoped that people would follow the rules.
But if they don't, Newsom said agents from multi-agency strike teams, including the Occupational and Health Administration, Alcohol Beverage Control and the California Highway Patrol, will be out to target "non-compliant" workplaces and "redundant" bad actors.
In those cases, he said, those business owners will face financial penalties.
Californians must not get complacent, Newsom said.
A total of 110 people have died in the last reporting period and the positivity rate of the disease has gone from 4.6% to 6% in the last 14 days.
"Every decimal point is profoundly impactful," he said.
This story was reported from Oakland, Calif.
SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 30: A woman wearing a face mask jogs along a road amid the coronavirus outbreak on June 30, 2020 in San Mateo, California. (Photo by Liu Guanguan/China News Service via Getty Images)