County officials said the move from the purple layer to red will be effective at 12:01 a.m. Monday, meaning indoor dining can return and cinemas and indoor fitness centers can reopen, all with limited capacity.
It was uncertain whether the county would conform to state guidelines or choose to enforce tougher restrictions, but with guidance released Thursday, different types of businesses and activities will be allowed below the red layer.
As of Thursday morning, the state had administered 1,971,784 vaccine doses in low-income communities.
LA County’s director of public health Barbara Ferrer had previously said the county was expected to officially advance to the red level 48 hours after the state hit the vaccination threshold.
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Under the new guidelines, indoor dining can resume with a capacity of 25%.
The county requires restaurants to have a distance of 8 feet between all tables, which is limited to a maximum of six people from the same household. The rules also call for the ventilation to be increased “as much as possible”.
Restaurant servers must already wear a face mask and face shield. With the new rules, the Ministry of Health “strongly recommends” that workers upgrade their face cover using either high quality N95 or KN95 masks, or a combination of double masking and face shield.
Health officials also strongly recommend that all employees be informed about and offered the opportunity to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Catering employees are already eligible to receive the shots.
Rules for other businesses once the county enters the red layer largely align with state guidelines:
Moving to the red level, the theme parks will also reopen as early as April 1 – including Disneyland Resort in Orange County and Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles County – at 15% capacity, with in-state visitors only.
On Tuesday, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said the company plans to reopen Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park in late April.
The rules also allow for the resumption of activities at higher education institutions and reopening of personal instruction for students in grades 7-12. Private indoor gatherings are also allowed for people from up to three different households, with masking and physical distance. People who have been vaccinated can gather in small groups indoors without masking or distancing themselves.
Under Governor Gavin Newsom’s most recent guidelines, when the state reaches the milestone of 2 million vaccines in low-income communities, counties will be able to step out of the blueprint’s most restrictive purple tier when their average daily new COVID-19 infections reach 10 per 100,000 inhabitants – a looser standard than the current 7 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Under the new guidelines, Los Angeles and Orange counties qualified to move to the less restrictive red level, as they were both below the 10 per 100,000 standard for two weeks. The number of new cases in Los Angeles County is currently 5.2 per 100,000 residents, while in Orange County it is 6 per 100,000.
The idea behind the 2 million dose threshold is to ensure that vaccines are distributed evenly across the state so that low-income communities disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are not overlooked in the vaccination process. efforts. Newsom has ordered 40% of the state’s vaccine stockpile be reserved to ensure equity in the distribution process.
Ferrer warned the County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that while the count and test positivity rate in the county has declined sharply in recent weeks, things could easily deteriorate if residents become lax about infection control measures.
“This is the month I would say – the month of March, early April – when we need to be extremely careful,” she said. ‘Because we’ve been here before. We have been here with reopenings. We’ve been here on trips around Thanksgiving and Christmas. We’ve seen what happens around holidays when we’re not really careful. … We need to keep everyone alive now so they can get vaccinated and stay alive. So this would be a time for extreme caution. ”
City News Service contributed to this report.
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