First amusement park in California reopening under COVID-19 limitations. What to know
Months after being shut down by the coronavirus pandemic, the first amusement park in California will be allowed to reopen, officials said.
The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is scheduled to reopen in November after Santa Cruz County was designated Tier 3 risk level under California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s coronavirus restrictions, The Mercury News reported. Tier 3 means 2% to 4.9% of the county’s population are testing positive for coronavirus.
“We are making plans, but nothing is set in stone yet,” Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk’s Marq Lipton said, according to The Mercury News. “We don’t have an opening date yet. It won’t be this week. It likely will be in a couple of weeks.”
The park will be allowed to open with limits of 500 tickets at a time to county residents only, according to Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newell, Santa Cruz Sentinel reported.
Santa Cruz County, which is 70 miles south of San Francisco, announced Tuesday that places of worship, restaurants, movie theaters and museums can increase their indoor capacity to 50% and retail businesses can open at full capacity.
California announced protocols last week for the reopening of amusement parks, based on size, The Sacramento Bee reported. A park with more than 15,000 visitors can reopen when COVID-19 transmission in the county has reached Tier 4 — meaning less than 2% of the county population is testing positive for coronavirus.
Only outdoor attractions can be opened and ticket sales are restricted to county residents.
Disneyland probably won’t open before summer 2021 based on Orange County projections, according to the Los Angeles Times.
