Los Angeles County has given the green light for several more businesses to reopen Friday.
The list includes bars, wineries, breweries and tasting rooms, personal care services — including esthetician, skin care and cosmetology, electrology, nail salons, body art, tattoo parlors, microblading, piercing shops and massage therapy businesses — card rooms, satellite wagering facilities and racetracks without spectators.
All will be allowed to reopen if they implement the county’s requirements.
The news came as L.A. County officials announced 1,051 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections to more than 78,200. Additionally, 36 more coronavirus-linked deaths were reported, sending the county’s death toll past 3,000.
As with other businesses that have recently been allowed to reopen under California’s Stage 3, including gyms, museums and zoos as of last week, face coverings will be required by staff and visitors when around other people, and social distancing practices will be mandated. In some instances, employees may be required to wear face shields.
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Newport Beach police enforce closures along the Wedge in Newport Beach, a popular surf spot. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Spectators along the Wedge in Newport Beach, a surf spot, on July 4. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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A bicyclist rides along Highland Avenue with the pier closed to beachgoers on July 3 in Manhattan Beach. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Peter Gratzinger of Pacific Palisades heads to the water at Santa Monica State Beach, which opened to the public at 5 a.m. July 6. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
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A bicyclist with her child rides along the closed bike path on July 3 in Manhattan Beach. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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A police officer and a lifeguard boat comb the shoreline in Venice Beach on July 5. Even though the beach was closed over the weekend a few still made their way to the shoreline. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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No-parking signs from the July 4 weekend still block spots on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica on Monday. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
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Dusk sets in over the the Santa Monica Pier on Friday. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
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Southern California residents watch the fireworks during the Drive-Up 4th of July Spectacular at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base on Saturday in Los Alamitos. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
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Bella Nousiainen, left, with daughter, Helmi Nousiainen, of Los Angeles, at the Santa Monica Pier, which reopens after being closed to guests for months because of the coronavirus. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Dr. Jamie Taylor checks the ventilators at the refashioned St. Vincent Hospital. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Shoppers and mannequins wear protective masks in the Los Angeles downtown garment district on Thursday. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Patrons wear face coverings at Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday. A recent surge in COVID-19 cases in California has pushed the state’s total past 200,000 with more than 5,800 deaths. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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LAPD officers E. Rosales, left, and D. Castro, patrol the Metro Red Line at the Hollywood/Highland Metro Station Thursday. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Visitors wear protective masks while walking through historic Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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People wait in line to have a COVID-19 screening administered by the Community Organized Relief Effort at the Los Angeles City Mayor’s test site at Dodger Stadium on Thursday. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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A woman adjusts a protective mask while walkiing along Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Ti mes)
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Cameron Johnson,18, left, headed to UC Berkeley in the fall and Simona Krasnegor,17, headed to UCLA in the fall, watched the sun set while sitting next to the Manhattan Beach Pier, following their drive-through graduation from Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
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Jair Guido, 36, a veterinarian visiting from Durango, Mexico, right, wearing a sombrero with an American flag draped over his shoulders, walks with other pedestrians along Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. Guido said that he wore this outfit to show people that he is proud to be a Mexican and that he loves America. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered all Californians to wear face coverings while in public. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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A mask-wearing skateboarder and her dog make their way along the boardwalk in Venice Beach. Californians must wear face masks in public under a coronavirus order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Pedestrians, some with face coverings, some without, walk past musicians Brent Kendell, background left, and Sam Jones, background right, as they perform at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in Hollywood. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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People wear masks while walking along the boardwalk in Venice Beach. Californians must wear face masks in public under a coronavirus order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Pedestrians cross the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in Hollywood. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered all Californians to wear face coverings while in public, following growing concerns that an increase in coronavirus cases has been caused by residents failing to voluntarily take that precaution. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Sophia Strauss, left, and Sarah Hoffmeister celebrate after their drive-through graduation from Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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New West Charter School vice principal Mark Herrera shouts at graduate Joe Reid to come and receive his diploma during a drive-up graduation ceremony for the Class of 2020 at the charter school in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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A worker directs drivers at a drive-up testing site for COVID-19 outside of Jackie Robinson Stadium at UCLA.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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Destiny VanSciner is tested for COVID-19 with an oral swab by family nurse practitioner Anniesatu Newland at a walk-in site at St. John’s Well Child and Family Center in South Los Angeles. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Melissa Gomes fixes the tassel on the mortarboard of Sarah Anggraini as the new graduate gets ready for a photo at Chaffey College, which held a drive-through graduation, in Rancho Cucamonga. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Maricela Moreno, manager at El Tarasco in Marina del Rey, disinfects cash at the restaurant. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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Mildred “Millie” Stratton waves to a caravan of cars led by Alhambra police officers and firefighters. The parade past her home celebrated Stratton’s 102nd birthday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Eric Larkin hands an order to Brittany Wright as she fastens her face covering outside the Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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A jogger passes Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles as local stay-at-home orders are increasingly relaxed months into the coronavirus outbreak. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Hikers and bikers traverse the Santa Fe Dam trail as county parks officially reopen to the public. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A woman, masked against COVID-19, walks past a building that features the image of Britney Spears at a shopping center in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Manon Guijarro, a new graduate of Pierce College, has her photo taken by friend Paige Johnson at Chris Burden’s outdoor work “Urban Light” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Mary Perez, a salesperson at High Class Jewels on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, helps a customer as he tries on a gold rope chain inside the recently reopened store. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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Professional dog walker Lindsay Rojas takes golden retrievers Gomez, left, and Nikki for a stroll along Le Bourget Avenue in Culver City. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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The Air Force Thunderbirds precision flying team banks over downtown Los Angeles in formation to salute healthcare workers and first responders on May 15. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Maria Morales, center, a member of the USC class of 2020, participates in virtual graduation via Zoom with her brother Manny Morales, left, mom Pilar Morales and stepdad Victor Ramos from her home in Orange. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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On a recent day, there’s not a face mask in sight as a roller skater and others share the reopened walking path on the Strand in Manhattan Beach. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Crew members of a Hainan Airlines flight walk through the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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A woman wearing a protective mask walks past a shuttered business in Long Beach. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Thousands of rental cars are stored at Dodger Stadium as the coronavirus crisis has caused rentals to nosedive. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
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Some beachgoers actively use the beach while others relax on the sand, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s active-use-only order, in Huntington Beach. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Traveling nurse Gail Cunningham waves thanks outside the emergency room entrance to Riverside University Health System in Moreno Valley as residents pay tribute to her and other medical personnel with a drive-by rally. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
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A scene from “Knives Out,” with actor Don Johnson, seen at the Mission Tiki Drive-in Theatre in Montclair. Opened with one screen in 1956, the Mission Tiki expanded to four screens in 1975 and began renovation in 2006, updating to FM transmitters and digital projectors. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
Amid all of the reopening plans, the number of confirmed infections continues to hit new highs in the state.
California reported 4,291 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, a new single-day record and the first time the state has broken the 4,000 barrier since the pandemic began, according to The Times’ coronavirus tracker.
Most of those — 2,129 — were in Los Angeles County, which continues to be the epicenter of the Golden State’s outbreak. Health officials said the total, a single-day high for the county, was fueled by a backlog of test results that accounted for roughly 600 of the new cases.
In the face of the growing case counts, Gov. Gavin Newsom took the dramatic step Thursday of ordering all Californians to wear face coverings while in public or high-risk settings.
“Simply put, we are seeing too many people with faces uncovered — putting at risk the real progress we have made in fighting the disease,” he said in a statement.
“California’s strategy to restart the economy and get people back to work will only be successful if people act safely and follow health recommendations.”
State and county health officials have consistently said they expect coronavirus case counts to rise as they lift provisions of the stay-at-home order. Since the disease spreads from person to person, any contact inherently presents some risk of transmission.
Officials have instead pointed to other metrics — such as the number of COVID-19 patients who get so sick that they need to be hospitalized.
Though some parts of California are holding up well in that respect, and coronavirus hospitalizations have been relatively flat for the last six weeks statewide, other areas have seen concerning upticks.
A recent Times analysis found an average of 91 people hospitalized in Ventura County with confirmed or suspected coronavirus infections last week — the highest such number since early April and a 75% increase from each of the previous two weeks.
Orange County has experienced a 76% jump in coronavirus intensive care unit hospitalizations in the last six weeks, and the eight-county San Joaquin Valley has seen a 45% rise over that same period, data show.
State officials are monitoring particular areas of concern in 10 counties: Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Stanislaus and Tulare.
In Riverside County, the state says one of the factors fueling elevated disease transmission is “potential transmission at public protests with large numbers of people in close proximity without face coverings.”
Such demonstrations sprang up throughout Southern California and the nation in recent weeks to protest the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pinned his neck down with his knee.
Though a number of health officials have come out in support of the protests — saying racism is the root cause of public health disparities that date to the nation’s founding — they also urged participants to get tested for coronavirus infection.
The state also cited masks, or the lack thereof, as one of the drivers behind increasing coronavirus hospitalizations in Stanislaus County.
Specifically, state officials pointed to “decreased attention to personal protection measures such as face coverings and social distancing.”
The use of masks to stem the spread of the coronavirus has emerged as an increasingly charged topic as the state reopens. Rules regarding face coverings differ from county to county, with some requiring residents to wear them in public and others only recommending the practice.
While the state’s new requirement would seem to provide some consistency, the Newsom administration did not address how it will be enforced or whether Californians who violate the order will be subject to citations or other penalties.
The ideological battle has been particularly heated in Orange County, where the health officer resigned after weeks of attacks over her mandatory mask rules. Her replacement walked that back to a strong recommendation last week.
That hasn’t put an end to the dispute, though.
About 25 Orange County union leaders gathered on the steps of the county administration building Tuesday to urge health officials to reinstate the mask order. Their calls were largely drowned out by protesters, who crowded around them holding signs and shouting, “Hey hey, ho ho, these masks have got to go.”
Areas that have mask requirements have also seen issues with compliance. A public health warning was issued Monday after unmasked revelers packed into bars and clubs in San Diego County’s Gaslamp Quarter over the weekend.
Times staff writers Phil Willon, Hannah Fry, Rong-Gong Lin II, Stephanie Lai, Colleen Shalby and Iris Lee contributed to this report.
