The indoor dining room is about to return to Los Angeles County, and health officials confirmed Thursday that they will allow restaurants to re-accommodate customers in their limited-capacity dining halls when the county moves to the “red” level of economic reopening. four levels of the flat state.
The county is expected to move to the “red” level as early as Monday.
While the state’s “Plan for a Safer Economy” allows food to be eaten indoors at the “red” level, counties may impose stricter restrictions. Los Angeles County public health officials have repeatedly warned of the danger of COVID-19 spreading to restaurants, raising questions about whether they would approve indoor food when the county goes from the most “restrictive” level.
Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer has twice referred this week to a new federal study linking food in person to the increase in cases and deaths from COVID.
But the county on Thursday released its plans to reopen “red” levels and includes covered dining halls with a state-authorized capacity of 25%. The county will require restaurants to have an 8-foot distance between all tables, which will be restricted to a maximum of six people from the same household.
The rules also require ventilation to be increased “as much as possible”.
Restaurant servers are already required to wear a face mask and a face shield. With the new rules, the Department of Public Health “strongly recommends” that employees update their facial covers by wearing higher-level N95 or KN95 masks or a combination of double masking and a face shield.
Health officials also recommend that all employees be informed and offered the opportunity to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Food service workers are now eligible to receive the shots.
The rules for other companies once the county enters the “red” level largely coincide with state guidelines:
- museums, zoos and aquariums can open indoors with 25% capacity
- gyms and fitness centers can be opened indoors with 10% capacity, with the necessary masking
- movie theaters can be opened to 25% capacity with reserved seats to provide a minimum distance of 6 feet between users
- retail and personal care companies can increase domestic capacity by up to 50%
- indoor malls can reopen to 50%, and common areas remain closed, but food courts can open to 25% of their capacity and meet the other requirements of indoor restaurants.
Moving to the “red” level will also allow the reopening of theme parks as early as April 1, including Disneyland in Orange County and Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles County, with 15% capacity, with only visitors to the state.
The rules also allow the resumption of activities in higher education institutes and the reopening of face-to-face instruction for 7th to 12th grade students. Private indoor meetings are also allowed for people from up to three different homes, with masking and physical distancing. Vaccinated people can gather in small groups indoors without masking or distancing themselves.
County health officials said they plan to officially enter the “red” level between midnight Monday morning and next Wednesday. The exact time will depend on when the state meets the threshold announced by Governor Gavin Newsom to administer 2 million doses of COVID vaccine to the lowest-income communities in the state.
Newsom said this week that the state will meet that threshold on Friday. As of Thursday morning, the state had administered 1,971,784 doses of vaccine in those low-income communities. Ferrer said earlier that the county is expected to officially advance to the “red” level 48 hours after the state meets the vaccination threshold.
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According to the latest Newsom guidelines, when the state reaches the $ 2 million vaccine milestone in low-income communities, counties will be able to get out of the plan’s more restrictive “violet” level when their average daily COVID rate 19 infections reach 10 per 100,000 residents, a slower level than the current one per 100,000 residents.
Under the new guidelines, Los Angeles and Orange counties will immediately qualify to move to the less restrictive “red” level, as both have been below the 10 per 100,000 level for two weeks. The new Los Angeles County case rate is currently 5.2 per 100,000 residents, while that of Orange County is 6 per 100,000.
The idea behind the two million dose threshold is to ensure that vaccines are distributed equitably across the state, ensuring that low-income communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic are not forgotten in the effort. of vaccination. Newsom has ordered that 40% of the state’s vaccine supply be earmarked to ensure fairness in the distribution process.
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Ferrer warned the county board of supervisors Tuesday that while case numbers and the county’s positivity test rate have plummeted in recent weeks, things could easily get worse if residents relaxed on the measures. infection control.
“This is the month I would say (March, early April), where we need to be extraordinarily cautious,” he said. “Because we’ve been here before. We’ve been here with the reopening. We’ve been here with Thanksgiving and Christmas trips. We’ve seen what happens around the holidays if we don’t take much care. life right now to get vaccinated and stay alive. So this would be a time of extreme caution. “
He specifically noted the spread of virus variants that cause COVID-19, which can spread more easily from person to person. Ferrer said the variant first identified in the UK has increased its reach in Los Angeles County and is now believed to be responsible for 10% of all COVID cases in the county.
“There is growing concern about a fourth global wave of COVID-19 as cases began to rise in the last week of February, after six weeks of decline, especially in Europe,” he said.
On Thursday, the county reported another 101 deaths from COVID-19, although three of those fatalities were announced Wednesday by Long Beach health officials. The new deaths raised the countywide death toll from the entire pandemic to 22,304.
1,378 more cases were reported by the county. The new cases raised the accumulated total pandemic to 1,208,024.
According to state figures, there were 1,015 people admitted to the county due to COVID as of Thursday, with 287 people in intensive care.