Sacramento bars and movie theaters will get approval to reopen Friday, despite worries
Sacramento County health officials intend to allow bars, movie theaters and campgrounds to reopen on Friday, despite a recent spike in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.
County health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson said Tuesday he has decided to allow hundreds more businesses to open this week — after getting the go-ahead from Gov. Gavin Newsom last Friday — because the surge of new cases in the county in recent weeks is confined to a handful of groups and does not reflect a wide spread of the virus through the broader community.
The Sacramento Zoo is scheduled to open Monday with limited visitors who must buy tickets in advance for given days and hours of entry. Restaurants, churches, stores, barbers and hair salons already have been allowed to reopen.
Beilenson warned, however, some businesses and activities may have to close if the county’s hospitalization numbers continue to increase.
In an effort to avoid that, he said, the county has decided to hire 24 “navigators” next week who will be assigned to visit small- and medium-size businesses and help them implement coronavirus safety measures as they reopen.
State officials Tuesday added Sacramento to their list of nine counties that are experiencing COVID-19-related issues, prompting state intervention. State officials said the goal is to be proactive in analyzing infection increases and to help counties counteract those before the problem becomes wider spread.
Sacramento, in particular, has seen an increase in hospital cases from eight two weeks ago to 37 today, according to state health department data.
Beilenson called that a “significant” increase, and attributed it to a small cluster of activities, including two large birthday parties held in private homes, one funeral and a church gathering. He declined to offer more details on those events.
Limited church gatherings are now allowed. But parties inside houses are not yet permitted under state and local stay-at-home orders.
“We want to make our point again that those technically are not allowed,” Beilenson said. “You can be sociable, but be sensible.”
Beilenson said Sacramento’s increased hospitalizations are concerning, but that the county is still in good shape with an abundance of respirators and emergency beds available.
He warned, however, that although he feels safe in allowing more businesses to open at the end of this week, “if (hospitalizations) continue to rise, we are potentially going to have to restrict” some business and social activity again.
This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 12:47 PM with the headline "Sacramento bars and movie theaters will get approval to reopen Friday, despite worries."