Statewide closures announced yesterday take effect locally Friday

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a statewide order to close bars and transition six industry sectors to outdoor-only operations to limit spread of COVID-19. Local implementation has begun and will take full effect Friday.

The state is requiring all bars that do not have a permit to serve food to close, and these businesses should cease operations no later than Friday. Businesses in the following affected sectors should offer only outdoor services with safety precautions in place:

Restaurants
Wineries and Tasting Rooms
Movie Theaters
Family Entertainment Centers
Zoos and Museums
Cardrooms.

Outdoor dining, carry out, curbside pickup and delivery are still allowed with physical distancing and other safety precautions in place.

Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Teresa Frankovich said she is hopeful that these actions will help the state avoid a move into stricter shelter-in-place measures. “We have talked since the beginning about the possibility for pauses or steps back to manage the pandemic,” she said. “I know this is challenging. At this time we need to use all of our prevention strategies so that we can reopen as soon and as safely as possible.”

Dr. Frankovich noted that this statewide action does not permit counties to take independent action on reopenings even though our county is “doing well” in terms of case counts and hospitalizations right now. “The governor is implementing this order to address the concerning increase in cases, hospitalizations and ICU admissions across more than 30 counties, which represent 80 percent of our state’s population,” she said.

Those businesses that already received certification to reopen from the Emergency Operations Center will not need to resubmit a Business Reopening Plan to offer outdoor services or to reopen once the state again allows these sectors to operate. Humboldt County is not currently on the state’s County Monitoring List and will not be required by the state at this time to fully close additional sectors.

Related Press Release:

Following the state’s order to restrict certain industry sectors to outdoor-only operations, businesses in the unincorporated areas of Humboldt County are invited to apply for a no-cost encroachment permit to convert parking lanes or stalls for business use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Areas that may be used for outdoor services include parking lanes or stalls within the public right-of-way. This does not allow the use of travel lanes or other areas where parking is prohibited at all times. Additional requirements include installing traffic barriers and ensuring proper road drainage.

Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said, “Businesses have been hit hard by changing regulations at the state level, and we want to do whatever we can to assist them as they try to adapt to these changes.”

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors adopted this policy in early June to allow restaurants and other businesses to reopen while maintaining physical distancing and other safety measures.