Once again, our number of new COVID-19 cases in LA County has ticked up slightly over the last week, but they are still very low compared to previous months, and the number of hospitalizations continues to fall.
Meanwhile, vaccinations continue to roll out, with both numbers of vaccinations delivered and the percentage of county residents vaccinated increasing.
And all of this good news means that as of today, LA County has entered the Orange (moderate) tier for transmission risk. According to the LA County announcement, this means:
Bars that do not provide meals will be allowed to open outdoors with distancing, masking and infection control safety measures. Indoor operations are not permitted. Visits are limited to 90 minutes. Masks are required except when people are eating or drinking. There can be no counter seating and people can eat or drink only when they are seated. Tables must be 8 feet apart, with a maximum of 6 people from up to 3 different households. There can be no live entertainment, television is permitted outdoors only and hours of operations are from 11:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m.
Breweries, Wineries, Distilleries that do not serve meals can remain open outdoors and can also open indoors at 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer. These establishments will follow the same public health directives as bars for their outdoor areas, however, there are additional requirements for indoor spaces: reservations are required for indoor seating, there is a maximum of 6 people per table and they must be from the same household, and there is no live entertainment or television viewing indoors.
Restaurants can increase capacity for indoor dining to 50% capacity or 200 people, whichever is less with continued safety modifications.
Cardrooms can operate indoors at 25% capacity. There must be 8-feet of distancing between tables and masks are always required. Food and beverages remain banned from card tables.
Places of Worship can hold services indoors at 50% capacity.
Fitness Centers can operate indoors at 25% capacity and indoor pools can now re-open. Masks are always required unless swimming.
Movie Theatres can increase capacity to 50% or 200 people, whichever is less. Seats must be reserved, and each group must have 6 feet of distance from other groups in all directions. Eating is allowed in only designated areas or in your reserved seat.
Family Entertainment Centers can open indoors at 25% capacity for distanced activities, such as bowling or escape rooms. Masks remain required.
Grocery and Retail Stores can increase capacity to 75%, although Public Health strongly recommends grocery stores remain at 50% capacity until April 15 to allow as many grocery store workers as possible get vaccinated.
Hair Salons, Barbershops and Personal Care Services can increase capacity to 75% with masks required, except for services where customers need to remove their masks. For services where customers must remove their face coverings, staff must wear a fitted N95 and goggles or a mask with a face shield.
Museums, Zoos and Aquariums can be open indoors at 50% capacity.
Youth and Adult Recreational Sports can apply to Public Health for approval for athletic events, tournaments or competitions that involve more than two teams or multiple individuals.
Also, as we noted on Saturday, limits for other kinds of events are easing up as well…and we can expect to start seeing more weddings and other special in-person celebrations.
And, finally, schools are following suit, too.  In his weekly address to the community this morning, LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner said the District is moving ahead with its plans to re-open its schools in stages, starting next Monday, April 12 and continuing through the month of April, on the schedule first announced last week:
Beutner also announced that LAUSD now has plans to open vaccination centers for district families at 25 District schools. (The first two – at Lincoln and West Adams Prepratory High Schools – were announced last week.)
And Beutner also reported the lastest results of the district’s family survey, which shows how many families at each school level plan to send their students back when campuses re-open (families do have the option of continuing remote learning for the rest of the school year). At each level – elementary, middle school, and high school – those planning to return to campus are less than 50%, but the numbers are slightly better than first reported by the LA Times a few weeks ago, when preliminary results indicated as many as 90% of local families might not be returning to campus this spring.
And finally, here are our own local neighborhood case counts over the last three weeks, which also show pretty slow growth:
