Dear Friend --

Governor Newsom and the State of California have announced additional closures to indoor operations in many counties, including all Southern California counties.

Governor Newsom is making additional statewide closures to protect public health, and we support his decision. This is an incredibly hard time for small business owners and workers, but hospitalizations are going up and we need to focus on hospital capacity.

Further closures of indoor operations affect thirty counties, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego. The following businesses may conduct outdoor operations only, in accordance with the Long Beach Health Order and provided that any City-issued permit required for the activity is obtained:

• Personal care services, including nail salons, tanning salons, esthetician, skin care and cosmetology services; body art professionals, tattoo parlors, microblading and permanent make-up and piercing shops; massage therapy (in non-healthcare settings) 
• Gyms and fitness centers
• Hair salons and barbers
• Religious services and cultural ceremonies
• Protests

Indoor shopping malls must close to the public. Strip malls, outlet malls and outdoor swap meets may continue to operate.

Businesses whose operations require employees work from an office worksite who are not identified as an essential business, healthcare operation or essential infrastructure may operate via telework and for minimum basic operations only. 

The mandatory closure goes into effect tonight, just after midnight (12:01 a.m., July 14, 2020). The amended City of Long Beach Health Order detailing the closures will be posted later today at longbeach.gov/COVID19.

Under the State guidelines for the reopening process, Long Beach, which has its own Health Department, is counted with Los Angeles County. However, even if the State considered Long Beach separately, Long Beach data would also place it on this mandated closure list.

This Order requires the continued closure of indoor operations for restaurants, museums, botanical gardens and aquariums, as well as the continued closure of bars and similar facilities that do not hold a City-issued restaurant permit. These mandated closures are now in effect statewide.

Due to an inability to practice physical distancing, hot tubs, saunas and steam rooms located in common spaces and at multi-family residential properties are required to close.

COVID-19 cases now number 5,616 in Long Beach, and 149 people have died from the virus. Ninety-seven residents are hospitalized—an all-time high for the city, and the positivity rate is at 15.1%. (The positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive.)

Businesses with questions regarding mandatory closures may call the City of Long Beach’s business information line between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays at 562.570.4BIZ. Residents with questions may call the City’s information line between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays at 562.570.INFO.

Thank you,