Lassen becomes first California county to roll back reopening
LOS ANGELES — As California sat on the cusp of 4,000 coronavirus-related deaths, there were new signs Thursday of problems in the reopening of the state.
While much of California is steadily easing portions of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order and lifting restrictions that have kept businesses, churches and schools shuttered for months, two Northern California counties have had to tap the brakes in the face of troubling virus activity.
The public health officer for remote Lassen County, in northeastern California, announced that some restrictions would be re-implemented this week after the region’s first confirmed COVID-19 cases.
That means no in-store retail shopping or dining in at restaurants for the time being, Dr. Kenneth Korver wrote in his order Tuesday. Salons will be closed, and worship services also are again prohibited.
“While Lassen County had no COVID-19 confirmed cases for the past three months, we were fully aware of the risk that the virus could come to our community” by way of county visitors or residents who traveled outside the county, Korver said. “Unfortunately, this did happen, and we now have a serious problem. We need to contain the spread of the virus in Lassen County now.”
Overall, there have been five confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county, but the results of 222 tests were still pending Thursday morning.
Lassen is the first county to officially roll back its reopening rules since California has started allowing local governments to further relax coronavirus-related restrictions provided they meet certain metrics.
In Sonoma County, several weeks after it began loosening restrictions on some businesses, public health officials on Wednesday announced they were halting the reopening of other services. The decision comes after a recent spike in COVID19 cases, mostly tied to workplace transmission, said county Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase.
“We’ve also seen, over the weekend, a few more hospitalizations that make us worried that we might be seeing more COVID in our vulnerable populations,” Mase said.
Many California communities, though, are forging ahead with reopening their economies, with the hope that social distancing and other safety measures will prevent new outbreaks.
Newsom said Wednesday that a decision on reopening gyms and fitness centers could be coming soon, the latest announcement in a string of significant reopening news in recent days.
Earlier this week, the governor unveiled new guidelines allowing houses of worship to resume in-person services and also announced that counties could begin to reopen hair salons and barbershops.
In another milestone, SeaWorld, Legoland and other tourist attractions in San Diego County have begun talks with local officials about a potential July 1 reopening.
Even Los Angeles County, which has long been the hotbed of California’s coronavirus outbreak, has taken significant steps toward reopening. Officials announced this week they would allow the resumption of faith-based services, instore shopping at low-risk retail stores, drive-in movies and other recreational activities with restrictions.