On Monday, Jan. 25, Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Steve Rosansky announced via a video sent to Chamber members and other businesses and community members that the regional stay-at-home order for Orange County, and Newport Beach, had been lifted.
The regional stay-at-home order was first imposed on Dec. 6 and extended on Dec. 30 due to the rising coronavirus case load in California hospital intensive care units.
“The state will revert back to the Blueprint for a Safer Economy regime that sets up four color tiers which provide for the reopening of the economy based upon coronavirus case rates and positivity percentages,” said Rosansky in the video.
“Gov. Newsom’s lifting of the stay-at-home order will be a welcome relief to many business owners, especially restaurants, hair salons, barbershops and other personal services establishments that have been forced to severely curtail operations or close completely in order to comply,” stated Rosansky.
Rosansky noted that prior to the listing of the stay-at-home order, many businesses continued to operate in violation of the stay-at-home order, risking possible fines and penalties so that their employees could continue to earn a paycheck.
“The retraction of the regional stay-at-home order will also lift the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew that had been in place since it went into effect in the southern California region,” said Rosansky. “However, reverting back to the Blueprint for a Safer Economy will not mean a sudden change in business activity. Orange County will reenter the color tiers at the purple level, which is the most restrictive of all the tiers.”
According to Rosansky, with a case rate of 67.1 and a positivity percentage of 16.7, it will be “quite some time before we reach an adjusted case rate of 7 and a positivity percentage of 8, which will allow us to move into the less restrictive red tier.”
Rosansky explained that in the purple tier, “only outdoor dining and outdoor church services are permitted. Personal service establishments, beauty salons and barbershops can reopen indoors with restrictions. Retail establishments can be open, but are limited to 25 percent occupancy, and 50 percent occupancy for supermarkets.”
To find out what restrictions are placed on businesses in the purple tier, consult the guidance documents on the state’s COVId-19 website, https://covid19.ca.gov.
For more information on the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce Website, visit www.NewportBeach.com.
