Long Beach Restaurants, Gyms and Movie Theaters Finally Reopen

LONG BEACH, CA — Long Beach restaurants, gyms and movie theaters are officially allowed to welcome customers indoors again for the first time this year as Los Angeles County enters the state's red tier in the "Blueprint for a Safer Economy."

The new phase, which allows a myriad of businesses to reopen at limited capacity became official at 12:01 a.m. Monday in Long Beach. On Friday, the state confirmed it had met the threshhold of administering 2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in low-income communities. And businesses across Long Beach spent the weekend preparing for the reopenings with safety mitigation measures.

For many, Long Beach business owners it's a bittersweet day. They've spent the last year trying to hang on through intermittent closures and restrictions and employee layoffs.

“We’re just tired; it’s been a really long year,” said Sandy Bond, manager of Los Amigos Strength and Fitness Center in Signal Hill told the Long Beach Post. “We’ve seen a lot of our friends go under and not open back up. We’re trying to make it through. We lost over 60% to 70% of our business.”

The gym reopened its doors for the first time in months at 6 a.m. Monday, still facing an uncertain future amid the pandemic.

The Cinemark movie chain has said its Long Beach location will welcoming audiences again on Saturday.

Colleges are also allowed to offer in-person instruction under the red tier, but that doesn't appear to mean an immediate return to normal at California State University Lonf Beach or Long Beach City College.

A decision has not been made yet about when classrooms would reopen at CSULB, university officials announced. Long Beach City College officials told the Press-Telegram they have no immediate plans to resume in-person learning for most students.

The state last week eased the requirements for counties to advance through the four tiers of the blueprint, which governs business restrictions based on the spread of COVID-19. The new requirements allow Los Angeles County to move out of the most restrictive purple tier and into the red tier.

Across Los Angeles County Under, indoor dining can resume at 25% of capacity. Restaurants will be required to have 8 feet of distance between all tables, which will be restricted to a maximum of six people from the same household. The rules also call for ventilation to be increased "to the maximum extent possible."

Restaurant servers are already required to wear a face mask and a face shield. With the new rules, the Department of Public Health "strongly recommends" that employees upgrade their face coverings, through the use of higher-grade N95 or KN95 masks, or a combination of double-masking and a face shield.

Health officials also strongly recommend -- but do not require -- that all employees be informed about and offered the chance to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Food service workers are already eligible to receive the shots.

Moving to the red tier will also allow the reopening of theme parks in the region as early as April 1 -- including Disneyland in Orange County and Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles County -- at 15% of capacity, with in-state visitors only.

The rules also permit resumption of activities at institutes of higher education, and reopening of in-person instruction for students in grades 7- 12. Private indoor gatherings are also permitted for people from up to three different households, with masking and physical distancing. People who are vaccinated can gather in small groups indoors without masking or distancing.

"This is welcome news, especially as many of our small businesses have borne the brunt of the financial fallout from this pandemic, and as our students struggle to keep up with distance learning," county Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda Solis said. "We have achieved this milestone and moved down to the `red' tier because as a county we worked hard, looked out for one another and came together to defeat the dark winter surge.

"Although we are taking steps to re-open some of the hardest hit sectors of our economy, that in no way means we can drop our guard now," she said. "We owe it to our neighbors, our local businesses, and our children to remain vigilant so that the re-openings are safe and long-lasting -- wearing masks and physical distancing remain critical."

The cities of Long Beach and Pasadena, which both have their own health departments separate from the county, enacted new loosened rules — largely mirroring the county

Long Beach officials said that city will also align with new guidelines the state announced Thursday allowing wineries and breweries that do not serve food to reopen outdoors for alcohol service. The rule requires all customers to have an advance reservation and be seated at tables, all of which will have a 90-minute time limit per customer.

Los Angeles County has not announced any plans to adopt the new guidelines on non-food-serving breweries and wineries. Counties are permitted to impose tougher restrictions than the state.

AMC Theatres announced it will reopen its Century City 15 and Burbank 16 theaters on Monday afternoon, with the balance of its movie houses opening March 19.

"As we have done at more than 525 locations around the country, AMC will reopen with the highest devotion to the health and safety of our guests and associates through our AMC Safe & Clean policies and protocols, which were developed in consultation with Clorox and with current and former faculty at the prestigious Harvard University School of Public Health," AMC President/CEO Adam Aron said.

Meanwhile, the county's rate of new cases and hospitalizations continued their general decline on Sunday. The county health department reported 644 new cases of COVID-19 and 28 additional deaths, though officials said Sunday's case numbers and deaths reported may reflect delays in weekend reporting.

The number of county residents in the hospital with the virus dropped from 951 Saturday to 893, with 251 in intensive care.

The county has now logged 1,210,265 cases of COVID-19 and 22,474 fatalities since the pandemic began.

In addition to Los Angeles and Orange counties, 11 other counties across the state were also cleared to move into the red tier thanks to the state reaching the vaccination milestone. Barring any reversal in case numbers, 13 more counties will move into the red tier when the state does its weekly update on Tuesday, including San Diego and Riverside counties, meaning the entirety of Southern California will be in red by the middle of next week.

Gov. Gavin Newsom's new guidelines will adjust the requirements again when the state reaches 4 million vaccinations in hard-hit communities. It was unclear how long that effort will take, but based on the current pace of vaccinations, it will likely take at least a month.

When the 4 million mark is reached, Los Angeles and Orange counties could — barring a resurgence of cases — quickly advance to the even less- restrictive orange tier of the economic-reopening blueprint. Such a move would lead to even further loosening of capacity restrictions and a reopening of bars with outdoor service only.

Also Sunday, the state's first case of a COVID-19 variant first discovered in Brazil in January was detected in San Bernardino, according to officials in that county.

The California Department of Public Health alerted the county to the case Saturday after it was detected in a positive test sample collected on March 2, according to San Bernardino County public information officer David Wert.

Contact tracers have been in contact with the resident, a man in his 40s. He reported experiencing symptoms and that he is self-isolating at home. He had not been vaccinated.

The P.1 "Brazilian" variant is believed to be more contagious than the most-common strain of the virus. There are also concerns that it may be more resistant to antibodies.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.