Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered every county in California to close indoor restaurants, movie theaters and wineries Monday, in a major retreat in the state’s 2-month-old effort to recover from the coronavirus-caused economic collapse.
With infections surging in many parts of the state and hospitals in some rural areas coming under pressure, Newsom also ordered bars to cease all operations, indoor and outdoor, throughout California. Health officials have zeroed in on bars, with their lack of physical distancing and customer face coverings, as a major potential source of spreading the coronavirus.
Newsom had previously directed 30 counties on the state’s “watch list” due to surging outbreaks to close indoor restaurants, theaters, wineries, museums, cardrooms and family entertainment centers such as bowling alleys and arcades. The governor extended that order Monday to all 58 California counties, though those establishments are still allowed in most places to operate outdoors, including restaurant patios.
In addition, Newsom ordered the 30 counties on the state watch list to close gyms, houses of worship, offices for non-critical work sectors, shopping malls and barbershops and hair salons, unless they can operate outside or pickup services.
More than 80% percent of California’s population lives in those 30 counties. In the Bay Area, the list includes Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
In addition to concerns about urban counties in the Bay Area and Southern California, the state acted because of fears about growing hospitalizations in rural areas, Newsom said. He cited Placer and Lake counties as areas where hospital intensive care units are filled almost to capacity.
“This virus is not going away any time soon,” Newsom said during a news conference in Sacramento County. “It’s incumbent upon all of us to recognize soberly that COVID-19 is not going away any time soon, until there is a vaccine and/or an effective therapy.”
Across the state, the average number of daily coronavirus cases nearly doubled between June and July. In June, counties reported an average of 4,007 new cases each day, compared with 8,211 over the last week.
In the Bay Area, the average number of daily cases also nearly doubled between June and July. In June, Bay Area counties reported an average of 393 new cases each day, compared with 809 a day so far this month.
The statewide rate of people who test positive for the virus has also climbed over the last week, to about 7.7%. Hospitalizations have increased 28% over the last two weeks.
California is one of numerous states where cases are growing at an alarming rate. At a briefing Monday at the White House, press secretary Kelly McEnany said the Trump administration is sending “surging personnel to Arizona, Texas, California. ... Surging (the coronavirus treatment drug) remdesivir to states that are seeing rising case numbers. We’re also surging testing supplies to decrease turnaround time.”
Newsom’s administration began allowing counties in May to move ahead on reopening businesses including indoor restaurants and shopping malls if they hit benchmarks in slowing the spread of the virus and creating capacity to contain a surge. Most counties have allowed many nonessential businesses to reopen, although the pace has been slower in the Bay Area than elsewhere.
However, the state has halted or reversed those efforts in recent weeks. Over the weekend, it ordered Alameda County — one of two counties in the state that had not applied for permission to start reopening nonessential businesses — to shut down indoor restaurants that had just reopened.
Newsom was asked several times at his news conference why his administration was leaving the issue of school reopenings up to local districts when the state has concluded that much indoor activity is unsafe.
The governor said the state is developing more stringent guidelines for schools to reopen, including rules related to masks, contact sports and busing. He said those guidelines would be updated in the next few days.
“Each district is unique and distinctive,” Newsom said.
The governor urged Californians to avoid mingling with people outside of those living in their households. If people must venture outside the home, Newsom implored them to wear masks or gather outdoors.
“Please, please take seriously the fact that positivity rates are growing in the state and across many parts of the country,” he said. “Continue to be vigilant.”
San Francisco Chronicle Washington correspondent Tal Kopan contributed to this report.
Dustin Gardiner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com,Twitter: @dustingardiner
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