Thousands cleared from Newport Beach’s sands

Newport Beach lifeguards cleared 2,700 beachgoers from the sand Sunday as state-mandated hard closures continued, city officials said.

Lifeguards, with backup from police, reminded visitors who slipped around barriers of the pandemic-driven closure in a coordinated sweep starting at around 1:45 p.m. The operation stretched from the Newport Pier to the Santa Ana River jetty.

Police made no arrests or citations.

That’s not to say that every beachgoer was asked to turn back: Lifeguards estimated an overall beach attendance of 4,500 people throughout the day on all seven miles of Newport shoreline from Corona del Mar to the Huntington Beach border, according to city spokesman John Pope.

Pope said the majority of the 2,700 people that lifeguards contacted complied after being told via public address systems, helicopters, boats and lifeguards and police officers on the sand.

Pope said crowds were lighter on Friday and Saturday but those beachgoers also mostly left after being told.

The beaches closed Friday on the order of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who targeted Orange County beaches after a bump in visitation the prior weekend, which he said threatened continuing efforts to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Two lawsuits have already been filed challenging the closure — one by the cities of Huntington Beach and Dana Point along with four businesses in Huntington and Newport, and one by Newport Beach City Councilman Kevin Muldoon, acting as an individual. Meanwhile, Laguna Beach, which was early to adopt a city beach closure in March and was about to allow limited use before Newsom’s directive, and San Clemente received state clearance Monday to reopen to limited “active use” only.

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