SACRAMENTO, California (AP) – California paved the way for fans to go to the bleachers at opening day baseball games and return to Disneyland almost a year after coronavirus restrictions closed major entertainment venues.
The state on Friday relaxed guidelines for reopening outdoor locations as an autumn and winter wave seemed to be ending, with COVID-19 infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths falling and vaccination rates rising.
New public health rules would allow live shows in stadiums and sports arenas to reopen with a limited audience on April 1. Amusement parks may also reopen in counties that have fallen from the state’s purple layer – the most restrictive – to the red layer.
In all cases, the park’s capacities will be limited and the safety rules of COVID-19, such as masking requirements, will apply.
The move came after a week of milestones, with California increasing vaccination for the poorest neighborhoods, counties reopening more businesses, and Governor Gavin Newsom approving a measure aimed at encouraging schools that restricted students from online learning to reopen classrooms this summer. month.
“The stable opening is consistent with the data. As cases decrease, we want to get back to work and school, ”said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, clinical professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California. “Outdoor activities, in particular, have always been low risk. Opening these sites makes sense. “
The reopening cannot come too soon for Kenny King Jr., a resident of Pleasant Hill in the San Francisco Bay Area, who became an annual Disneyland pass holder a decade ago. He usually takes his family to the park in Southern California five times a year, but the last visit was just over a year ago for his birthday.
King, 38, lives in said he is excited to be back with his 8-year-old daughter, who had just started enjoying rides like the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain, and to take his 2-year-old son, who was mesmerized by lights and sounds when he visited last year.
“This is something we just did for our family – trips to Disney,” said King. “We sit at home sometimes and think ‘man, I miss Disneyland’. ”
They also applauded the thousands of workers made redundant by Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood, Knott’s Berry Farm and other major locations. Ten thousand lost their jobs alone at Disneyland and its related attractions in Orange County, not to mention the effect dragged on to nearby restaurants and hotels.
Andrea Zinder, president of the local United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents Disney workers, said employees are “excited to get back to work and offer Californians a little more magic in their lives”.
Most major theme parks are in Southern California, which is still in the purple category. However, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties hoped to reopen in the coming weeks, as their COVID-19 numbers dropped.
Currently, only 16 of the 58 counties are in the red layer and two small counties are in the orange layer. None is yet in the yellow layer, the lowest and least restrictive.
The theme parks in the red layer will have a capacity limited to 15%.
Outdoor sports will be limited to 100 people in the purple layer, but will increase by up to 67% in the yellow layer.
San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels and Oakland A’s have announced that they will have fans in the stands for their April 1 debut. Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants begin their seasons on the road and said they would announce their plans later.
Team and event organizers can only sell tickets regionally in the purple layer. In the other layers, teams and organizers can sell tickets to anyone who lives in California. No concessions will be allowed on the purple layer, while on others, concession sales will only be available on seats.
Richard Haick, of San Pablo, California, has already purchased vouchers for the return of Oakland A’s and hopes to take his 10-year-old son to a game soon. Your son plays baseball in the children’s league and is very excited to watch the games.
“It’s good to have, even in a reduced capacity, some sense of normalcy,” said Haick, a 45-year-old photographer.
The faster pace of reopening is linked to a new plan to vaccinate California’s most vulnerable residents. Once 2 million people in 400 CEPs in the poorest neighborhoods receive at least one dose of vaccine, it will be easier for counties to move out of the state’s most restrictive strata. Once 4 million people in these neighborhoods are vaccinated, counties will be able to open up even more.
All of this puts California in a drastically different position from that of a year ago, when Governor Gavin Newsom imposed the state’s stay-at-home order that restricted travel, closed deals and forced millions of people into unemployment. California still has one of the most severe restrictions in any state and continues to discourage visitors from outside the state.
The state is pinning its hopes for a full reopening to inoculate enough of its 40 million residents to contain widespread COVID-19 infections.
More than 10 million doses have been administered just three months since the first injection, the Department of Public Health said.
Just over 3 million people have been fully vaccinated, or about 10% of the population aged 16 and over.
There are signs of hope. This week, the seven-day average rate of positive test results dropped to 2.2%, a record high.
While pressure is mounting to reopen the economy, health officials said the policy changes were a cautious and measured approach, rather than a comprehensive approach.
“Come on …. keep your foot on the brake, not the accelerator, our eyes on the road, hands on the wheel and navigate based on data and science,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of State for Health and Humans Agency Services.
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Associated Press writer Janie Har of San Francisco contributed to this story.