SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A memo sent to California police chiefs says Gov. Gavin Newsom will order all beaches and state parks closed starting Friday to curb spread of the coronavirus.
The California Police Chiefs Association sent the bulletin to its members Wednesday evening. Eric Nuñez, president of the association, said it was sent to give chiefs time to plan ahead of Newsom’s expected announcement Thursday.
Most state parks already are closed and many communities already have shut their beaches. But some of those open in Ventura and Orange counties attracted large crowds last weekend, drawing Newsom's ire. He said Monday the crowds were an example of “what not to do” if the state wants to continue its progress fighting the virus.
In Newport Beach, some 80,000 visitors hit the beach over the weekend, although lifeguards said most people exercised social distancing. With criticism swirling, the Newport Beach City Council met Tuesday and rejected a proposal to close the beaches for the next three weekends.
Newsom’s expected announcement comes as virus hospitalizations have flattened and some local governments have started relaxing stay-at-home orders.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Six San Francisco Bay Area counties that imposed the first broad stay-at-home orders in California because of the coronavirus loosened them — slightly — for the first time Wednesday, joining a growing list of local governments that are cracking the door to a less-restrictive life.
The announcement was part of a dizzying list of modified orders making it difficult to keep up with what is allowed and what is not. Tennis will be OK in Sacramento starting Friday, but not in San Francisco, where public health officials say it's still not safe for people to share a ball.
Compounding the confusion: Some elements of the revised orders won't take effect because they conflict with the statewide stay-at-home order, which is still in place.
“I want to remind everyone that we must all abide by all the local health orders and the state health orders. That means whichever is stricter, in some cases that is the state order,” Santa Clara County legal counsel James Williams said. “It is important that we adhere to the stricter of both.”
In Riverside County, authorities said the more restrictive local order will end Thursday and be replaced by the state order, which does not have an end date. The new local order opens trails and parks for hiking, biking and horseback riding. A requirement for face coverings continues but does have an expiration date of June 19.
The Bay Area order allows for landscaping, construction and other outdoor businesses, such as flea markets and nurseries, so long as social distancing is maintained. And in what could be a critical addition for many parents, it specifies that summer camps are allowed, but only for children of people allowed to work under the state order. The children must remain in groups of 12 or fewer and with the same supervisor and may not mingle with kids outside their group.
It's not clear if that element complies with the state order. When asked about it Wednesday, Newsom said it was “a point of clarification” his administration will be discussing with local officials.
The changes in local orders reflect the growing unrest among some citizens and government officials over Newsom's order and his plan for a slow and methodical reopening of the nation's most populous state even as other states such as Florida move much more quickly.
With much of the economy closed, more than 3.7 million Californians have filed for unemployment benefits since March 12. In Auburn, northeast of Sacramento, salon owner Tisha Fernhoff said she has started taking an occasional client to help pay her rent and meet other expenses. She’s among a smattering of owners across the state who have dodged public health orders that closed their businesses because they are considered nonessential.
Virus hospitalizations have been virtually flat for several weeks in California and the state has dodged the dreaded massive surge of patients experienced by New York and several other states.
Newsom reiterated Wednesday it would be weeks before he makes the first significant modification to the state order, urging people to remain at home to prevent unintended outbreaks among the state's most high-risk populations, including nursing homes.
“It won't be on the basis of pressure, it won't be on the basis of what we want, but what we need to do,” Newsom said. “And what we need to do from my humble perspective is listen to the public health experts.”
But each of the state's 58 counties have their own public health experts, and many are starting to ask Newsom to open up the state. On Monday, six rural Northern California counties sent a letter to the governor asking him to let them reopen, noting they only had 69 confirmed virus cases among a combined population of 500,000 people.
On Tuesday, another Northern California county with few cases joined the chorus. El Dorado County said its order would expire Thursday and urged Newsom to loosen his order.
“Due to the efforts taken by our county, we have clearly demonstrated the ability to protect our residents from COVID-19 and we are requesting your approval to allow for the limited, phased reopening of our economy that allows for the eventual safe return of El Dorado County to normal operations and activities in a safe manner,” supervisors said in a letter.
In Southern California, the Newport Beach City Council rejected a proposal on Tuesday that would have closed beaches for the next three weekends. Newsom had chastised Orange County, where Newport Beach is located, and Ventura County for having open beaches where crowds gathered during the warm weekend.
In an odd moment during Newsom's daily briefing that is streamed on social media, a reporter called on to ask a question said she was in the middle of an interview with Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner and then handed him the phone. In an apparent reference to the county modifying its public health orders, he blurted out “the sheriff will not come and ticket you.”
Newsom responded by noting Orange County— the third-most populous county in the state — has the fourth-highest number of virus hospitalizations in the state.
“I'm concerned about that,” he said.
Santa Clara County Health Director Dr. Sara Cody said local officials have come up with their own metrics to measure infection rates, hospitalizations and testing to ensure that infections don't start rising again. If that happens, she said, stricter rules will be back.
But she acknowledged there may be other health effects from forcing people to stay home, as well as the burgeoning unemployment the pandemic restrictions have caused.
“I wish I could give you a set timeline for when this was going to end. My family asks me, my friends ask me — we don’t have a date," she said, noting that there still is no vaccine, so “we are going to need to have protections in place for a very, very long time.”
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Beam reported from Sacramento, Calif. Dazio reported from Los Angeles.
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Associated Press writers Janie Har and Juliet Williams in San Francisco contributed reporting.
