Staff

Angelenos were welcomed back into (restricted) restaurants, movie theaters and gyms this week after the county relaxed its harshest lockdown with the continued fall of COVID-19 cases.

Los Angeles County joined Orange, San Bernardino, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Placer, Mendocino, San Benito, Tuolumne, Siskiyou, Amador, Colusa and Mono counties in progressing from the most restrictive purple tier to the red tier. The advancement comes as Los Angeles finally dipped below ten new daily cases per 100 thousand.

Cinema fans can enjoy movies indoors once again as long as the theater operates at 25 percent capacity and with reserved seating only. Groups will have to remain seated 6 feet apart. Museums, zoos and aquariums can similarly reopen at 25 percent capacity.

Gyms will have to limit capacity to 10 percent.

The state was also celebrating 12,637,197 COVID-19 vaccine doses distributed. In total, 21 percent of Californians have received a dose.

If the trend of declining cases and hospitalizations continues, Los Angeles County will be on track to open even more widely within two weeks. Currently, the county’s adjusted daily rate of new cases remains 4.1 per 100,000 residents. If the county reaches 3.9 daily new cases, the blueprint will allow the city to move into the orange/moderate tier allowing theaters to open up to 50 percent capacity and theme parks to open at 25 percent capacity instead of 15.