China bans some travel due to COVID as California opens up

As California sheds its masks, a new COVID-19 variant has prompted a travel ban in China that would impact more than 50 million people.

New cases effectively doubled from a day earlier to a two-year high as a new outbreak surged rapidly in the northeast part of China.

No one wants to see the hospitals fill up again, but the prospect of more lockdowns and masks again has worn on people.

"It's been so hard on the kids," said Elly Salter, a grandmother getting to spend a day at the park with her grandson from South Africa.

"Speech delays and development delays," added Salter. "And not just because of masks but because they weren’t around people."

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Health experts say these outbreak waves are to be expected and that we are more prepared as a society now.

"We first tried to eradicate COVID," Dr. Suman Radhakrishna, Director of Infectious diseases at Dignity Health.

"That didn’t happen, so we have to learn how to live with it just like we live with the millions of different viruses that cause colds every winter season," Radhakrishna said.

Businesses across the Southland seemingly have their own ad-hoc COVID-19 policies for customers and employees alike now that the state has lifted most guidelines.

"It feels really nice," said Denise Bohannonm who manages the gallery in Ocean Park. "But everyone's safety is the first concern."

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