Coronavirus: Palm Springs Issues Shelter In Place Notice, Orders Non-Essential Business Closed

PALM SPRINGS (CBSLA) — The Palm Springs City Council Tuesday directed City Manager David Ready to order to closure of all nonessential businesses that includes a shelter in place provision for residents.

The emergency order is expected to become active at 7 a.m. Wednesday after Ready and the city attorney write it Tuesday.

The order builds on previous orders closing bars, gyms, nightclubs and cannabis lounges in the wake of the growing coronavirus pandemic.

"I think we need to do this," Mayor Geoff Kors said during an emergency meeting of the council. "It's clear what is coming. It's clear what is needed valley-wide."

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Among the businesses expected to be exempted are medical offices, restaurants that offer delivery and take-out, gas stations, pharmacies, banks and others that provide essential services that will be spelled out in the forthcoming order.

The order will include a shelter in place component that would advise all residents to curtail all non-essential activities. The council cited the order that took effect Tuesday in San Francisco as a guide.

"If the whole country were to shut down for two weeks, this (the pandemic) could be over," Mayor Pro Tem Christy Holstege said.

The announcement came after Ready issued an emergency order late Monday requiring all cannabis lounges and commercial gyms in the city close immediately. He also issued an emergency order on Sunday that required all bars, nightclubs and breweries in the city to close their doors.