O.C. Orders Beaches Closed For July 4 Holiday

SANTA ANA (CNS) – With coronavirus cases spiking and several cities already opting to close their coastlines for the Fourth of July holiday, Orange County officials announced Thursday that its beaches will be closed on Saturday and Sunday.

County CEO Frank Kim and Supervisor Lisa Bartlett both confirmed that the beaches will be closed for the holiday and on Sunday.

County-operated beaches affected by the order are Aliso, Capistrano, Salt Creek, Baby Beach, Bayside, Camel Point, Poche, Strands, Table Rock, Thousand Steps, Treasure Island and West Street.

The cities of Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach and Seal Beach had already announced plans to close the beaches for the holiday in light of spiking numbers of COVID-19 cases.

In Newport Beach, the decision to close beaches from 10 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Sunday followed news that two seasonal lifeguards in the city had tested positive for the coronavirus, and nearly two dozen others were placed in quarantine.

Mayor Will O’Neill said some of the other lifeguards were showing symptoms. He noted the fastest growing demographic of infected patients are in their 20s and 30s.

“They’re going to bars, going to house parties, not doing a great job of social distancing,” O’Neill said, adding that he hopes they will now “take this seriously” as officials have to retreat on business and beach activity.

“I cannot in good conscience add more onto our lifeguards,” he said. “We just can’t responsibly ask our lifeguards to do more with less.”

O’Neill also implored beachgoers to stay away during the holiday weekend.

“Don’t make our lifeguards and police chase you off,” he said. “This is a hard enough year… This is a time we step up to where we need to be.”

The Huntington Beach City Council voted in an emergency meeting Wednesday night to close all city beaches, Huntington Harbor beaches, Sunset Beach and the Pier on July 4.

Seal Beach’s City Council voted to close its beaches and parking lots from 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday at sunrise.

San Clemente Mayor Pro Tem Laura Ferguson told City News Service she does not favor closing her city’s beaches this weekend.

The beach closures follow a county order Wednesday closing all bars in the city, an order that was also put in place later in the day by Gov. Gavin Newsom, affecting 19 counties, including Orange County.

The county order affects all bars, pubs, breweries and brew pubs that do not offer dine-in meals. Establishments serving dine-in food can only sell alcohol in the same transaction as a meal.

The closure order was expected ahead of the holiday weekend, given similar action already taken in surrounding counties of Los Angeles, San Diego and Riverside.

Orange County officials expressed concern that if they did not act, the county would become a magnet for holiday revelers from across Southern California.

“While we would prefer not to close bars at this time, many of our neighboring counties have closed their bars, and it’s important to take precautions to ensure the safety of the general public,” Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel said in a statement Wednesday.

Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do said he agreed with O’Neill that beaches are not a primary cause of coronavirus spread, but because all the other surrounding beaches are closed as well as other forms of recreations such as bars and restaurants it makes sense to close the county’s beaches so they are not overrun.

On Wednesday, county health officials announced 570 more coronavirus cases and five more deaths, bringing the county’s totals to 14,413 cases and 345 fatalities. On Tuesday, the county reported a one-day record 779 newly confirmed cases.

Last week was the deadliest of the pandemic in Orange County, with 56 deaths reported. Since Sunday, the county has reported 22 fatalities.

The number of hospitalized patients in Orange County rose from 510 on Tuesday to 542 Wednesday, with the number of patients in intensive care increasing from 176 to 192.

County officials reported that they had performed 241,027 COVID-19 tests, with 7,642 documented recoveries as of Tuesday.

Newsom announced earlier this week that Orange County, along with Solano, Merced and Glenn counties, had been added to the state Department of Public Health’s watch list due to increasing percentages of positive tests.

The county’s case rate rose from 115.2 per 100,000 residents on Tuesday to 126.4 per 100,000 on Wednesday. The positive test rate increased from 9.9% to 10.4% on Wednesday, according to health officials.

The state has set a desired standard average of 25 positive cases per 100,000 over a 14-day period, and a seven-day average positivity rate of 8%.

The three-day average increase of hospitalized patients is 9%, creeping up on the state’s threshold of 10%. But that is down from 9.7% on Tuesday.

Health officials insisted Orange County is in good shape in terms of hospital beds available. The county has 38.2% of its intensive care unit beds available, above the state threshold of 20%, and has 64.6% of its ventilators available, above the state standard of 25%.