California’s Governor Has Ordered All Indoor Operations Statewide To Close As Coronavirus Surges Again

Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state would experience a significant rollback of its reopening process as California continues to struggle with record high COVID-19 case numbers. Governor Newsom ordered all indoor operations at restaurants, wineries(though they may still operate outdoors), movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos, museums, and cardrooms to be closed statewide, with bars ceasing all operations.

Additionally, 11 more counties across the state must join a list that includes cities from San Diego to Marin that must also close salons, barbershops, places of worship, offices in non-critical sectors, malls, and gyms, including Los Angeles County.

The city of Los Angeles, with its 134,000 cases, is home to nearly half of the state’s total cases and has been particularly hard hit. According to the Los Angeles Times, the LA Unified school district, the nation’s second-largest school system, which is home to half a million students and over 75,000 employees, will not reopen campuses at the start of the school year in August due to the high case number in the county.

As of July 12, 2020, California has a total of 320,804 cases of COVID-19, with over 7,000 deaths, 6,322 hospitalizations, and 1,806 people currently in intensive care units, according to data from the California Department of Public Health. The state seems to be entering its second lockdown, and as the first state to shut down its economy back in March when the pandemic began, it might be a harbinger of things to come as the country continues to battle rising infection rates in various cities.