California officials will allow people to attend Major League Baseball games and other sporting events, go to Disneyland, and watch limited-capacity live performances from April 1.
The rules announced Friday coincide with the opening day of baseball. The San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels, and Oakland Athletics all have home games scheduled for April 1.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s top public health official, said the state is now acting as the number of new coronavirus cases and hospital admissions is declining, while the number of people getting the vaccine increases.
“Today’s announcement aims to build in some of the compelling science about how the virus behaves and how activities can in some way reduce risk,” Ghaly said.
Friday’s announcement only covers outdoor activities. Attendance at indoor events, including NBA games and concerts, is still prohibited. Rules for indoor events are “much more difficult,” said Dee Dee Myers, senior adviser to the governor and director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.
“We will continue to work on that. We will come back in the coming weeks and try to update this so that we can provide greater visibility and a path forward to more companies,” said Myers.
California categorizes its counties according to four color-coded levels based on the spread of the virus. The purple layer is the most restrictive, followed by red, orange, and yellow. Attendance limits are based on the level of a province.
Theme parks can open in the red level with a 15% capacity and only people living in California can purchase tickets. Attendance limits are increased to 25% in the orange level and 35% in the yellow level. Indoor rides are allowed because they are short and have plenty of space.
Outdoor sports are limited to 100 people in the purple layer. Those limits go up to 20% capacity in the red level, 33% in the orange level and 67% in the yellow level.
Teams can sell tickets regionally in the purple tier and statewide in the other tiers. No concessions are allowed in the purple layer. At other levels, concessions are limited to headquarters purchases.