Updates in California for Virus

Coronavirus updates: Newsom orders 7 counties to immediately close bars

By Alyssa Pereira, Eric Ting and Katie Dowd

Effective immediately, Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered the closure of bars and nightlife spots in seven counties due to spiking coronavirus cases.

Bars must close in Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, San Joaquin, and Tulare counties. The state is recommending, but not mandating, bars also close in Contra Costa, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus and Ventura counties.

“COVID-19 is still circulating in California, and in some parts of the state, growing stronger,” Newsom said in a statement. “That’s why it is critical we take this step to limit the spread of the virus in the counties that are seeing the biggest increases.”

June 28, 8:30 a.m.: Fifteen California counties are currently being monitored by the state as they experience increases in coronavirus cases and patient hospitalizations.

Two of those counties, Contra Costa and Santa Clara, are in the Bay Area. In Contra Costa County, the local health department believes a move away from sheltering in place had led to a nearly 17% increase in average patients hospitalized over the last three days.

Santa Clara County is also experiencing an increase in hospitalizations for coronavirus, but the state believes much of this can be attributed to patients from other counties seeking care there. Patients transferred from long-term care facilities are also landing in county hospitals. Once the epicenter of the Bay Area outbreak, Santa Clara County's hospitals are some of the state's most experienced at treating COVID-19 patients.

"Although the percentage change in hospitalizations shows an increase, the increase in the absolute number of patients hospitalized is low relative to the size of the population in Santa Clara County and is low relative to the number of hospital beds available in the county," the California Department of Public Health said.

Other counties, like Stanislaus, are seeing an increase due to family gathering-related clusters and "decreased attention to personal protection measures such as face coverings and social distancing."

Counties on the state's watch list are working with the CDPH to identify the causes for any worrisome trends and next steps to mitigate the virus spread.

The full list of counties on the watch list are as follows:

Contra Costa County

Fresno County

Imperial County

Kern County

Kings County

Los Angeles County

Riverside County

Sacramento County

San Bernadino County

San Joaquin County

Santa Barbara County

Santa Clara County

Stanislaus County

Tulare County

Ventura County

June 26, 3:00 p.m. The Golden Gate Restaurant Association responded to Mayor Breed's announcement to push back moving into the next Stage of re-openings, saying that while outdoor dining is at this point unaffected by the change in timeline, the organization will continue to monitor things very closely.

"As of today, outside dining is not affected and San Francisco is still allowing outside dining," a spokesperson for the organization said. "Our biggest concerns remain with the health of our workers, patrons and residents of San Francisco and we will continue to closely monitor the situation and update everyone as soon as we are made aware."

June 26, 2:15 p.m. Santa Clara County will enter a "new phase" of reopening next week that will "that will mark the end of" a "sector-specific strategy" to business restrictions.

In a statement released Friday, county health officer Dr. Sara Cody stated she anticipates releasing a new health order next week.

"I anticipate issuing a new order next week that will mark the end of our sector-specific strategy and the beginning of a new phase, where many activities will be allowed to resume with appropriate risk reduction measures in place," she wrote. "And of course, many high-risk activities simply cannot safely resume here or elsewhere anytime soon.  This new order and related materials are under development and will be shared as soon as they are ready, which I anticipate will be in the middle of next week.  It will go into effect several days later, giving businesses time to put appropriate safety measures in place."

Santa Clara County recorded 100 new cases Friday, bringing the county total to 3,984. The county also announced it would be changing its methodology in reporting new cases and would now display the number of new tests administered every day.

"Both count of individuals tested and count of tests completed remain valid measures of COVID-19 response activity and the County continues to track both," a press release read. "However, the latter better measures activities in support of the County’s May 15 guidance that many individuals such as frontline workers be tested regularly."

June 26, 2:00 p.m. Contra Costa County is weighing whether to continue forward with its reopening process as the county records a 42% rise in hospitalizations over the last seven days. The county also announced a rise in the rate of positive test results, suggesting the uptick in cases "indicates a true increase in community spread."

As in other places, Contra Costa reported a rise in the number of cases in younger people, noting in April, those under 40 made up 38% of cases, but now they account for 55%. The rise could mean younger people are spreading the virus to those who may be more at-risk of hospitalization.

"There is concern that these increases may lead to a surge in very ill people that could overwhelm the local healthcare system. We realize many people are eager to resume normal activities," the release reads. "However, if we adjust the reopening timeline, it will be because we have a chance to prevent the pandemic from getting out-of-control in the county."

A push on the next stage for Contra Costa County would mean a delay in reopening for indoor dining, bars, gyms, hotels and some personal care services, including nail salons and tattoo parlors. Those businesses were previously permitted to reopen July 1.

June 26, 12:40 p.m. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state officials are directing Imperial County to re-impose a strict stay-at-home order.

Imperial County, located on California's southern border, has struggled to contain the virus in recent weeks after local officials attributed hospitalization surges to United States citizens living in Mexicali, Mexico, getting infected and coming across the border for treatment.

During a press conference Friday, Newsom stated that patients have been rerouted to hospitals in neighboring counties, such as San Bernardino and Riverside counties, to ease the burden on Imperial County's facilities, but due to recent spikes in those two counties, the state wants Imperial County to return to a stay-at-home order.

Newsom said the county's Board of Supervisors will convene to discuss returning to a strict stay-at-home order. The test positivity rate in Imperial County is 23% — a figure much higher than the state average of 5.7%. For reference, the percent positivity rate in most Bay Area counties is between 1% and 6%.

"If they are not able to come to some consensus, I am committed to intervening," the governor said.

June 26, 12:30 p.m. San Francisco will not move into the next phase of reopening Monday, Mayor London Breed announced, citing a rise of 103 new cases Thursday.

The next step allowed some higher-risk businesses to reopen, including hair salons, barbers, museums, zoos, tattoo parlors, massage establishments, nail salons, outdoor swimming and outdoor bars. The state granted San Francisco County a variance Thursday to reopen such businesses next week.

June 26, 12:15 p.m. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a virtual press conference Friday that hospitalizations and ICU admissions in the state have "modestly" jumped, up 3.3% and 4.4% respectively.

There are now more than 200,000 cases in the state, with 4,890 positive cases counted in the last 24 hours. Seventy-nine people have died in the last 24 hours from COVID-19.

Newsom also added that the state has conducted 77,000 tests over the last 24 hours, and that the positivity rate in that time frame was 5.3%, a small increase from the 5.1%-positive rate recorded earlier this week. The 7-day positivity rate average is 5.7%.

June 26, 12:00 p.m. California Schools Superintendent Tony Thurmond appeared on CNN Friday to discuss new procedures and precautions for reopening California schools in the fall, noting the schools "will only open if it is safe to do so."

Thurmond added that school districts are preparing for a number of different scenarios and are open to both in-person classes and to continuing distance learning. Should the state re-launch in-class learning, schools will look different, starting with the teachers themselves.

"From our governor, we've already sent personal protective equipment to all of our 10,000 schools to be ready to be open, 14 million cloth masks, 2.4 million face shields for our teachers."

They've also measured space between desks where necessary and have explored expanding teaching areas to other parts of the school.

"Many of our childcare centers, they've been able to use outdoor portions of the campus for instruction, use the gym to broaden footprint of the campus," he said.

June 26, 10:10 a.m. Bay to Breakers, the century-old annual race across San Francisco, has been canceled for 2020. In March, the race was rescheduled from May to September, with organizers citing the coronavirus as the reason for the postponement.

But Friday, organizers say, "we have made the difficult decision to cancel the live event." The race will now follow suit with other canceled marathons across the U.S., and will "go virtual," meaning runners will independently log their runs. Bay to Breakers will also refund registrations to those who decide not to participate in the virtual run.

June 26, 8:45 a.m. An outbreak at the San Quentin Prison has now yielded more than 500 cases in inmates within the jail.

Inmates there say social distancing has been impossible, and though many are trying to take precautions by wearing a mask and washing hands regularly, infections are still spreading. One inmate says alarms at the prison ring every time an inmate is taken to the medical area; on Thursday alone, he added, it rang five times.

No official deaths have been recorded at the prison, although one man, 71-year-old Richard Stitely, who was on death row, died Wednesday. Inmates say he had been showing COVID-19 symptoms.

As of Friday morning, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reports 539 cases at the jail.

June 26, 8:30 a.m. Santa Cruz will reopen its beaches beginning Friday, due in part to the fact that locals won't stop visiting, and it has become difficult for police to enforce the closure.

"We had hoped to continue the beach closure until after the Fourth of July weekend, but it’s become impossible for law enforcement to continue to enforce that closure, and people are not willing to be governed anymore in that regard,” Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel said Thursday.

The beaches had previously been closed between the hours of 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., except for those crossing to access the water.

June 26, 8:15 a.m. The Muir Woods National Monument announced the park will reopen Monday after being closed since March due to the coronavirus oubreak. The park's reopening won't see it return to business as usual, however. Park officials will curb the number of visitors each day.

While usually, the park admits up to 4,000 cars per day via reservation, on Monday Muir Woods will only allot 1,700. Pedestrians and bikers will continue to be able to enter the park without a reservation.

Additionally, the Visitor's Center will remain closed, though some park facilities, like the restrooms and cafe, will be open.

June 26, 7:30 a.m. Coronavirus cases in California have now surpassed the 200,000 mark, following the day which saw the highest daily total of new cases in the U.S. Thursday.

The state reported a total of 5,052 positive tests on Thursday, pushing it past the high threshold, the Mercury News reported. California also added an additional 81 deaths — more than half of which were in Los Angeles County— bringing the toll in the state to 5,804.

The seven-day average for new cases in the state also jumped this week, up to 4,780 per day, though the increase may also be attributed at least in part to the more widespread availability of testing. Alameda, Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties each averaged a higher-than-previous number of cases over the last few days.