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More businesses required to move activities outdoors or close

July 13, 2020

July 13, 2020

Media contact:
Riverside County Joint Information Center
951-955-5087

Public contact: 2-1-1

More businesses required to move activities outdoors or close

Effective today, more businesses in Riverside County are now required to move their activities outdoors as part of statewide actions to slow the spread of coronavirus.

The governor’s announcement today impacts 30 counties, including Riverside County, that are on the state’s monitoring list. Newsom said the order to move activities outdoors was necessary to reduce the spread of coronavirus and curb the recent increase in hospitalizations. Riverside County has experienced a steady rise in confirmed cases, hospitalizations and patients requiring intensive care dating back to Memorial Day.

Those businesses that cannot move activities outside must close.

The new restrictions include:

-- Fitness centers and gyms
-- Worship services
-- Offices for non-critical sectors
-- Personal care services
-- Hair salons and barbershops
-- Malls

These businesses may still do curb-side retail, so long as there are no indoor operations.

“As we struggle with national laboratory issues artificially depressing new case counts, people need to realize we’re far from being out of the woods,” said Dr. Cameron Kaiser, Riverside County public health officer. “Summer heat isn’t stopping COVID-19, but for some of these sectors, the heat means there may be no good way to do them outdoors. We need to reduce the impact on our hospitals by reducing transmission, and as long as the numbers keep rising, the state’s need to reimpose restrictions will keep rising too.”

Riverside County health officials remind all residents that in addition to these new restrictions, there is still a statewide stay at home order in effect and residents should not gather with family and friends who live in different households, attend parties or join social gatherings. These are known places where the disease is spread.

Riverside County officials also remind residents to get screened at one of the many coronavirus testing sites located throughout the region. More than 270,000 tests have been conducted in Riverside County so far. For more information on testing, click www.rivcoph.org/coronavirus/testing.

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