Gov. Gavin Newsom Closes All Movie Theaters, Bars in California

Dave McNary
·4 min read

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Citing soaring coronavirus rates, Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered all movie theaters and bars in California to close immediately.

The mandate, announced Monday, also covers restaurants, wineries, family entertainment, zoos, museums and cardrooms.

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Newsom previously announced that there would be a three-week closure of dine-in restaurant service and movie theaters in Los Angeles County and 18 other counties. Nearly all indoor movie theaters in California have been closed since mid-March. In his press conference Monday, Newsom revealed that hospitalizations have jumped 28% and ICU admissions have risen 20% over the past 14 days in California.

“This virus is not going away anytime soon,” he said. “I hope all of us recognize that if we are still connected to some notion that somehow when it gets warm, it’s going to go away, or somehow it’s going to take summer months or weekends off, this virus has done neither. It’s incumbent on all of us to recognize, soberly, that COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon until there is a vaccine and/or an effective therapy.”

Newsom also issued an order Monday for Los Angeles and 29 other counties on the state’s monitoring list to close fitness centers, places of worship, nail and hair salons and indoor malls immediately.

According to Comscore, 28 of California’s 518 movie theater locations — including 15 drive-ins — are currently open.

Earlier on Monday, the Los Angeles and San Diego public school districts jointly announced they will use remote-only instruction in the fall, citing risks that surging coronavirus infections present for students and teachers.

“Those countries that have managed to safely reopen schools have done so with declining infection rates and on-demand testing available,” the districts said in a joint announcement Monday. “California has neither. The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control.”

The Los Angeles and San Diego unified school districts are the two largest school districts in California with a combined 825,000 students. LAUSD had been planning previously on an Aug. 18 physical re-opening and SDUSD had set an Aug. 31 start date for in-person instruction.

The districts also stressed that they are aware of the negative impact that the announcement will have.

“This announcement represents a significant disappointment for the many thousands of teachers, administrators and support staff, who were looking forward to welcoming students back in August,” the districts said. “It is obviously an even greater disappointment to the many parents who are anxious for their students to resume their education. Most of all, this decision will impact our students in ways that researchers will take years to understand.”

The districts’ decision comes as President Trump’s administration continues to advocate for reopening public schools, based on the assertion that students need to attend for social and emotional development and their parents need to return to work. That’s been disputed by many public health officials and teachers on health and safety grounds.

Barbara Ferrer, the director of the L.A. County Public Health Department, said Monday that when schools do reopen, the experience will be very different for teachers and students. She said that staff and students would be required to wear masks, except during meal times and except for small children during naptime. She also said that team sports would not be allowed.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti offered strong support at his Monday afternoon news conference to dialing back the reopening, citing 2,593 new cases in the county, including 964 in the city of Los Angeles. He said that the current threat level remains at “orange” — described as very high and widespread risk — and is verging on “red,” which would trigger a “Stay-at-home” order for all but essential workers.

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