Governor orders reopening retreat
Three Bay Area counties — and 16 others — told to shut venues
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered 19 counties with surging coronavirus outbreaks — including Contra Costa, Santa Clara and Solano — to close indoor restaurants, wineries, movie theaters and other venues, saying California must keep the pandemic from spiraling out of control.
Newsom said the state has directed counties on its “watch list,” those with spiking numbers of new cases and hospitalizations, to reimpose parts of their stayathome orders. His directive came as the state warned that the virus could spread from family gatherings on the Fourth of July weekend.
The virus already is surging — a dis
couraging reality that means Saturday’s Fourth of July holiday will look markedly different from other years, notably without fireworks in San Francisco, Sonoma County and elsewhere. Parking lots at state beaches from Monterey to Sonoma counties will be closed for the holiday weekend.
“We’ve seen increased activity where people simply aren’t able to practice social distancing,” Newsom said at a briefing, where he asked everyone planning a holiday gathering this weekend “to reconsider.”
Coronavirus infections throughout the Bay Area grew to 26,300 on Wednesday, an increase of more than 677 cases in a 24hour period, county data showed. Singleday spikes in Bay Area counties included 202 new cases in Santa Clara, 192 in Alameda and 116 in Contra Costa.
Across California, the number of infections rose to 238,855 Wednesday, with 6,685 more people becoming sick.
Cases are also climbing in several other states, including Florida, Texas and Arizona. But some officials are responding very differently from California. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state “is not going back” on reopening.
In California, Newsom’s order requires restaurants, wineries, tasting rooms, family entertainment centers, movie theaters, museums, zoos and cardrooms in the 19 counties to halt indoor operations for at least three weeks. The affected establishments are allowed to operate outdoors, such as restaurant patios.
Newsom also ordered the full closure of all bars and breweries in the 19 counties, both indoor and outdoor operations.
The 19 counties with new restrictions will impact nearly threefourths of California’s population of 39.5 million people.
Besides the Bay Area counties, those on the list are Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, Stanislaus, Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Merced, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura.
Newsom’s order doesn’t apply to six Bay Area counties. But he hinted that could change in the coming days.
“I expect that based upon the current trends, that there will be a number of additional counties in the Bay Area,” he said. “There’s likely to be four additional counties that soon come on that list.”
Some Bay Area counties affected by the governor’s order have not opened many of the types of establishments that Newsom mentioned. For example, Santa Clara County has not yet reopened indoor dining and bars. Contra Costa County had already delayed a reopening that had been set for Wednesday.
Solano County has moved more quickly, having allowed indoor dining starting in May and reopening retail stores, tattoo parlors, museums, nail salons and more. The county is drafting a new order to reflect the governor’s restrictions, which will require many establishments to close again or change their operations, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
Besides the indoorbusiness shutdown, California said it would close parking lots at a number of state beaches for the holiday weekend.
State Parks Director Lisa Mangat said people should celebrate the Fourth of July “differently this year” and avoid road trips to state parks and beaches.
“Now more than ever, it’s up to all of us to recreate responsibly to protect our loved ones and our communities,” she said in a statement.
Newsom implored Californians to practice social distancing and wear masks as they mingle and travel for the holiday. He said people must “disabuse” themselves of any notion that people have stopped dying of COVID19.
As of Wednesday evening, 6,167 people had died of COVID19 in California. More than 5,000 people with the coronavirus are in the hospital.
“Let’s do our best to meet this moment, as we met the moment many months ago,” the governor said. “We were able to bend the curve in California. We’ll bend it again.”
Newsom said the state is deploying regulators, in “strike teams,” to encourage businesses to comply with health orders. But the governor said the state is appealing to Californians’ sense of moral persuasion to get individuals to wear masks and social distance.
“Just because someone is not going to tap you and write a citation doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do the right thing,” Newsom said. Wearing a mask is “the sign of someone who gives a damn.”
The state also added rules for people going to gyms and churches, which it has allowed counties to reopen with some restrictions. Gym patrons will have to wear masks indoors at all times. And churches, which are limited in how many people can attend indoor services, must now halt singing and chanting. The state said those activities “negate” the purpose of physical distancing, because they can result in droplets containing the virus being spread more widely.
Alarming updates about the virus’ toll continue to mount: San Francisco announced Tuesday that the city has seen a 49% spike in hospitalizations over the past week as patients from San Quentin State Prison and hardhit rural Imperial County were transferred to city hospitals.
Newsom’s administration began allowing counties in May to move ahead on reopening businesses, including indoor restaurants and shopping malls, if the counties hit benchmarks in slowing the spread of the virus and creating capacity to contain a surge.
Most of California’s 58 counties have allowed some nonessential businesses to reopen, although the pace has been slower in the Bay Area than elsewhere.
In recent days, however, some of those efforts have been reversed — several counties have closed bars again, and San Francisco, Marin, Alameda and Contra Costa counties all pulled back on plans to widen the variety of businesses that can reopen.
Apple announced Wednesday it will reclose 30 stores across the country, including some in California, as coronavirus cases spike.
On Tuesday, San Francisco canceled its Fourth of July waterfront celebration, which normally draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city.
“The Fourth of July is normally a time to gather and celebrate with family, friends and neighbors,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement. “Unfortunately these are not normal times, and these types of gatherings are the environments in which COVID19 spreads.”
In Sonoma County, the Cloverdale Lions Club canceled its Fourth of July fireworks show Wednesday — the county’s last remaining planned show for the summer, according to a Facebook post.
Meanwhile, amid the surge in new infections in California and beyond, health officials and infectious disease experts emphasized the same simple message as Newsom did: Cover your face. Stay apart.
Wearing a mask and practicing social distancing are the most important precautions people can take at social events, said Dr. Dean Blumberg, an infectious disease specialist for UC Davis Health. He said contact tracing shows many people are becoming infected at indoor gatherings.
“They’ve been coming from people gathering in bars, and of course in bars people aren’t wearing masks because they’re drinking. And it’s indoors so there’s a limited volume of air,” he said.
Blumberg said if people insist on gathering for the holiday, they should stay outdoors, where “the air volume is much larger and the virus can be diluted.”
Dr. Peter ChinHong, a professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at UCSF, said he worries more about indoor gatherings because people often let down their guard with friends and family.
“You have such a great, shared understanding with” close relatives, he said, “sometimes it might even feel rude to keep your mask on.” Dustin Gardiner and Tatiana Sanchez are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com, tatiana.sanchez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DustinGardiner, @TatianaYSanchez