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Casino cardrooms reopen outdoors in LA County
On Oct. 5, Los Angeles County card rooms opened for outdoor-only business.
LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County card rooms opened for outdoor-only business Monday, the latest economic sector permitted to reopen under gradually loosening coronavirus restrictions.
Los Angeles County health officials last week cleared card rooms to reopen beginning Monday, but restricted them to outdoor gaming operations only, with no food or beverage service. Indoor activities at the casino are restricted primarily to employee duties.
The county on Monday also began accepting waiver applications from schools that want to provide in-person instruction for students in pre-kindergarten through second-grade. The waivers, which must be approved by the county and the state, will be limited to 30 schools per week, with priority given to campuses in the generally lowest-income areas.
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Schools that are granted waivers will have to limit groups of students to no more than 12, and no more than two supervising adults in each classroom. Those teacher-student groups must remain together for the entire day "for all activities," according to the county.
Schools in the county were previously cleared to offer in-person instruction to high-need students.
Nail salons in the county were permitted to reopen with indoor operations beginning last Thursday, but they were limited to 25% of capacity. Health officials urged salons to continue offering outdoor services as much as possible.
Indoor shopping malls will be permitted to reopen on Wednesday, also limited to 25% of capacity.
Outdoor playgrounds were also cleared to reopen across the county, at the discretion of individual cities. Everyone over age 2 must wear a face covering at playgrounds, and adult supervision is required.
RELATED: Several casinos in LA County to close over COVID-19 concerns
Health officials said last week they were still working with county attorneys to finalize plans for the resumption of outdoor beverage service -- with food sold by third-party providers -- at breweries and wineries. That process is expected to be "completed in a week," according to the county.
Some county officials expressed concern last week that permitting breweries to reopen with an outside food vendor would led to backlash from bar owners, who are still prohibited from operating. The city of Long Beach, which has its own health department separate from the county, permitted the reopening beginning Monday of all "brewpubs, breweries, bars, pubs, craft distilleries and wineries" that don't have restaurant licenses but partner with a third- party food provider to serve meals.
RELATED: Stay up to date on all coronavirus-related information
On Sunday, the county Department of Public Health reported 933 new cases of COVID-19 and five additional deaths, bringing the county's totals to 274,565 cases and 6,647 fatalities. Case numbers are traditionally lower early in the week due to reporting lags from weekend testing.
Hospitalizations in the county related to the coronavirus dropped from 698 Saturday to 673 Sunday, with 28% of those people in intensive care.
Officials said the county averaged 717 hospitalizations per day last week, the lowest number they've seen in six months.
However, daily case numbers continue to indicate there is still widespread community transmission.
And while not mentioning President Donald Trump by name, county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Saturday that the White House outbreak should serve as a warning that the virus is still being actively transmitted.
"Our recovery journey depends on the decisions we each make every day about how to avoid transmitting the virus," Ferrer said in a statement.
"We are witnessing firsthand in Washington, D.C., how very easy it is for this virus to infect dozens of people in a very short time when individuals are not wearing face coverings, distancing and/or quarantining."
Health officials said Friday that two more cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, were confirmed in the county, bringing the overall total to 40. The rare coronavirus-related syndrome causes inflammation of various organs. There have not been any deaths associated with MIS-C in the county.
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