Places of worship, movie theatres, and gyms in Orange County will have to switch back to outdoors only, and stores and shopping malls will have to cut down on how many people can go inside.
That comes after the state and Gov. Gavin Newsom "pulling an "emergency brake" and trying to stop the spread of coronavirus - placing at least 41 counties back into more restrictive tiers including Orange County. Other counties that slipped back include Ventura, Santa Barbara and other counties in SoCal. LA County is already in the most restrictive tier - the purple tier. California last week surpassed the 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases.
California is also strengthening its face covering guidance to require people to wear a mask whenever outside their home, with limited exceptions.
LIST OF COUNTIES MOVING TO PURPLE AND RED TIERS
"This is simply the fastest increase California has seen since the beginning of this pandemic," Newsom said when he made the announcement.
One Orange County Supervisor is not happy about it.
Don Wagner tells KNX 1070 News the governor's state-wide plan isn't workable.
"No this is not the right move," he says. "We are seeing this governor says his tier system is working as designed and yet I look around the state, I see county after county sliding back into purple. I'm sure he didn't design it like that. What he really should do is design a system that lets each of the local counties and the people who live there make their own decisons.
Even though the number of infections is spiking in Orange County, he says OC has done a great job flattening the curve -- and the governor's new restrictions should rather be "strong recommendations."
Meanwhile, in Long Beach, Mayor Robert Garcia says it's the right thing to do.
