California paved the way for fans to watch baseball games on opening day and for tourists to return to Disneyland, almost a year after coronavirus restrictions closed major entertainment venues.
The state relaxed on Friday the guidelines for reopening outdoor sites as a wave of autumn and winter seemed to be ending, with Covid-19 infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths plummeting and vaccination rates rising.
The new public health rules would allow live shows in stadiums and sports arenas to reopen with a limited audience from April 1. Amusement parks will also be allowed to reopen in counties that have fallen from the state’s purple layer – the most restrictive – to the red layer. In all cases, park capacities will be limited and Covid-19 safety rules, such as mask requirements, will apply.
The move came after a week of major milestones, with California increasing vaccines for the poorest neighborhoods, counties reopening more businesses and Governor Gavin Newsom approving a measure to encourage schools that restricted students from online learning to reopen classrooms. In this 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. ”
Thousands of workers have been laid off 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 indirect effect on nearby restaurants and hotels.
Andrea Zinder, president of the local United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents Disney workers, said employees were “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 were hoping to reopen in the coming weeks, as Covid-19’s numbers dropped.
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.
The San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels and Oakland As everyone has announced, they will have fans in the stands for their April 1 debut day. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants begin their seasons on the road and said they would announce 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.
The faster pace of reopening is linked to a new plan to vaccinate California’s most vulnerable residents. Once 2 million people in 400 postal codes in the poorest neighborhoods receive at least one dose of vaccine, it will be easier for counties to get 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.
A year ago, Newsom imposed an order to stay at home across the state 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 by inoculating enough of its 40 million residents to contain widespread infections. More than 10 million doses have been administered just three months since the first injection, the state public health department 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.
“Let’s … keep our 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 the state health and human services agency.