San Diego, Monterey Among 6 Counties Added To California's Coronavirus Watch List
SAN DIEGO (CBSLA) — California's rollback of reopenings expanded to six more counties Monday, including San Diego, Monterey and Marin.
Bars in Colusa, Madera, Marin, Merced, Monterey and San Diego counties were ordered to close all operations, while indoor operations are being asked to close indoor operations for restaurants, wineries, movie theaters, zoos and museums, and card rooms. The number of counties on the state's watch list is now at 23.
Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties have come off the state's watch list since last week.
The state reported 5,699 new COVID-19 cases and 5,790 hospitalizations, which reflects 50% increase over the past two weeks. Twenty-four people died of the virus over the weekend.
Newsom said enforcement has been stepped up across the state over the last three days, with 6,000 in-person visits to restaurants and bars from the Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control, and more than 440,000 businesses contacted in person, by email and phone by OSHA. All businesses that have been allowed to reopen are required to make sure masks are worn by staff and patrons, put physical distancing measures in place, post signs about masks and physical distancing and post limits on occupancy.
"We targeted licensees that had either received complaints about or had information that was concerning that we needed to get clarified," Newsom said.
Newsom said that while there were citations issued, most of the enforcement was done from an educational standpoint, even cities like Santa Monica and West Hollywood announced tiered fines for not wearing masks.