Shopping malls and nail salons are among the businesses that Los Angeles County will clear to reopen for indoor activity over the next 10 days.
L.A. County is taking a staggered approach to reopen several sectors and will announce dates for individual sectors Friday, according to the L.A. Times.
The state allowed the county to let shopping malls and nail salons reopen Tuesday. They can operate at 25 percent capacity and must keep common areas such as food courts closed.
The state has cleared the county to reopen a number of businesses and resume various activities over the past few weeks, but the county has held off until data collected from Labor Day weekend was analyzed, according to the Times.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, owner of several malls in the L.A. area, sued the county this week for keeping malls closed, alleging the county lacked “a single valid, science, or health-based reason” for doing so.
Gov. Gavin Newsom could probably think of one, though: After malls reopened for about a month earlier this year, he closed them again in mid-July following a surge of coronavirus cases.
Cities within the county can also wait to greenlight businesses cleared by the county. The county will also allow outdoor playgrounds to open over the next 10 days, but openings ultimately depend on the city or county agency overseeing each property.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday cleared breweries, wineries and card rooms to resume outdoor operations at limited capacities.
While L.A. County’s 3 percent positivity rate is the lowest since the beginning of the pandemic, the state has projected an 89 percent statewide increase in hospitalizations through Oct. 25. [LAT] — Dennis Lynch