Based on San Diego County's surging COVID-19 numbers, officials have indicated that we are likely to be included on California's County Monitoring List by Friday and if triggers for modifying health officer orders remain for three consecutive days, San Diego would have to close indoor operations at restaurants, wineries, tasting rooms, zoos, family entertainment centers, museums, theaters and card rooms as early as Monday, July 6.
Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced increased enforcement measures and the toggling back of certain precautionary restrictions due to surging COVID-19 statistics across the state. California instructed certain sectors in all 19 counties that have been on the County Monitoring List for 3 consecutive days to close indoor operations due to risk of spread, including restaurants, wineries, tasting rooms, zoos, family entertainment centers, museums, theaters and card rooms. The counties required to roll back precautions are Los Angeles, Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, San Joaquin, Tulare, Contra Costa, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Ventura, Solano, Merced, Glenn and Orange. San Diego was not included in counties that must impose new restrictions.
On June 30, the County was flagged because it surpassed the state’s trigger of no more than 100 positive cases per every 100,000 residents. On that day, the rate was 103.8 and rose to 105 today, July 1. If the County has another day over that threshold, it will be placed the state’s Watch List on July 3 and monitored for an additional three days. At San Diego County's press conference this afternoon, public health officer Dr. Wilma Wooten predicted San Diego would continue hitting warning triggers put in place to let the county health department know when to reinstate restrictions. If the rate does not fall below 100 over the weekend, San Diego County would be on the Monitoring List for three consecutive days as of Monday, June 6, which would thereafter result in Governor Newsom forcing a toggling back of precautions like he did earlier today with 19 other counties. This would cause restaurants and other businesses listed above to be forced to close for indoor operations for at least 3 weeks.
"If things don’t improve, we will be forced to take these additional measures," said Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County public health officer. "We all should be wearing a face covering, staying away from others and taking other preventative measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19."
San Diego County today announced another 474 cases of COVID-19 and seven additional deaths, raising the county totals to 14,623 cases and 372 deaths.
