On Sunday, June 28, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered seven counties to close bars in their jurisdictions, due to rising COVID-19 metrics:
- Los Angeles
- Fresno
- Kern
- San Joaquin
- Tulare
- Kings
- Imperial
Under the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Order, the rollback applies to bars and other similar venues that do not serve sit-down meals or contract with another vendor to provide sit-down meals in their establishment. The Order applies to bars, breweries, brewpubs, pubs, wineries and tasting rooms, and officials said that bar areas in restaurants would also be required to close. The Governor also requested that eight additional counties issue local health orders closing bars:
- Contra Costa
- Santa Clara
- Sacramento
- Riverside
- San Bernardino
- Ventura
- Santa Barbara
- Stanislaus
Of these 15 counties, four (Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Imperial and San Joaquin) have not yet allowed bars to open.
All of the counties subject to the Governor’s Order were on the state’s monitoring list for counties with recent concerning increases in COVID-19-related metrics (including infection rates, hospitalization rates and hospital capacity). Of the 15 counties on that list, 11 had been permitted to reopen bars, excluding Contra Costa, Imperial, San Joaquin and Santa Clara counties. Imperial county officials had met with state officials on Saturday to discuss taking actions in response to their rising positive testing rate, which had risen to over 23%, but the county has not yet moved to reissue stay-at-home or other orders.
Of the counties ordered or recommended to close their bars, only Imperial and Santa Clara had not previously been granted a variance by the state on the Governor’s Resilience Roadmap.
The CDPH Order marks the first time since the Governor’s March Stay-at-Home Order that the state has reimposed restrictions due to COVID-19.