California Governor Gavin Newsom plans to lift regional stay-at-home orders statewide on Monday, allowing restaurants to dine al fresco amid the coronavirus pandemic, a report said.
Sources briefed on the governor’s plans told the Los Angeles Times that all counties will return to a colored tier system that assigns local risk levels based on the number of cases and positivity rates.
Most counties are moving to the “widespread” risk level, which allows hairdressing salons to provide limited in-house services, but restricts many other non-essential in-house business activities.
According to the paper, some elected officials and the restaurant industry have fought in and out of court to lift the highly controversial ban on outdoor dining.
It was not immediately clear whether the move will lead to a relaxation of the rules for those staying at home in Los Angeles County, which has emerged as the national epicenter of the outbreak, the paper reported.
In less than a month, more than 5,000 people have died of the disease in the province alone, the outlet said.
As the number of cases soared, Newsom announced the regional home delivery orders on Dec. 3 in an effort to reduce the burden on hospitals.
While state data shows that hospital systems in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley remain under strain, the governor’s officer told officials on Sunday that models projecting ICU capacity in those areas will exceed 15 percent in the next month – a threshold for lifting shutdowns -.
