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Statewide Covid spike forces more businesses to close
Restrictions across 41 counties will also reduce mall capacity to 25%
A wide array of indoor businesses across California will close or operate at reduced capacity as part of the state’s latest measures to counter the recent spike in Covid cases.
The rapid rise in cases has led to 41 of the state’s 58 counties reaching the highest tier of coronavirus transmission levels — purple — up from 13 the week before, according to the Los Angeles Times.
L.A. County was already on that purple tier. Some of the counties that just reached it include Orange, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Kern and San Luis Obispo, the Times reported.
The measures Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday include shutting indoor dining for restaurants in the affected counties, and reducing capacity at malls to 25 percent capacity. Grocery stores can stay open with 50 percent capacity. Also closed for indoor activity will be gyms, dance and yoga studios, movie theaters, museums, zoos and aquariums in those counties.
The 41 counties each have more than 7 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people, and more than 8 percent of tests positive for the virus.
L.A. County cleared some businesses to open just a month ago, including malls and nail salons. The mall reopenings came after Unibail-Rodamco sued the county for keeping shopping centers closed.
The seven-day statewide average for positive Covid cases in the period ending on Sunday was nearly 8,000. That rate has doubled over the last two weeks, and is the highest it’s been since August. The 13,412 positive cases on Monday was the most ever recorded in a single day in the state. [LAT] — Dennis Lynch