Sunbathing, Picnicking Banned At Santa Barbara County Beaches Over Labor Day Weekend
SANTA BARBARA (CBSLA) – All beaches in Santa Barbara County will be restricting certain activities over Labor Day weekend in order to prevent crowds in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The county Public Health Department announced Thursday that it will close the beaches to stationary activities, such as sunbathing and picnicking.
Only physical activities such as swimming, surfing, running and other water sports will be allowed.
The restrictions will run from 12 a.m. Friday, Sept. 4, through midnight on Monday, Sept. 7.
Santa Barbara is one of 33 counties still on the state's monitoring list.
To get removed from the list, a county must have a case rate of under 100 people per 100,000 population, and the number of people tested who are positive for coronavirus must be under 8%. Furthermore, at least 20% of ICU beds in the county's hospitals must be available, along with at least 25% of ventilators.
Santa Barbara is meeting all the thresholds except for its case rate, which is at 133.2 people per 100,000, as of Wednesday.
Orange County was removed from the list last weekend. If it remains off the list for 14 straight days, it will be allowed to reopen its schools to in-person classes.
Santa Barbara County completely shuttered its beaches over the 4th of July weekend, along with Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
"Reduced disease transmission is critical in the fight against COVID-19," said county Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg in a statement Thursday. "We anticipate a high volume of visitors at our beaches during the Labor Day weekend, which will impede the practice of safe and necessary social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Santa Barbara County. Our community has remained diligent in its efforts and now is the time to protect all the positive outcomes we have accomplished."
