The COVID-19 cases continue to spike in California. On Wednesday, the state Governor Gavin Newsom ordered a 3-week closer of bars and indoor operations of movie theaters, wineries, tasting rooms, family entertainment centers, zoos, museums and some of California’s biggest cardrooms.
Governor Gavin Newsom has imposed tougher restrictions on certain activities in 19 counties as the state saw a massive spike in COVID-19 cases with 6,000 cases reported on Tuesday alone.
California has confirmed around 223,000 infections, approximately 50% increase over two weeks ago and the state is now testing more than 100,000 people per day. “If you’re not going to stay home and you’re not going to wear masks in public, we have to enforce — and we will,” Newsom said Tuesday.
The order applies to businesses in Los Angeles, Contra Costa, Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernadino, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Solano, Stanislaus, Tulare and Ventura counties. This will force some of California’s biggest cardrooms to close for at least 3 weeks as the Commerce Casino, Bicycle Casino, Bay 101 Casino, Stones Gambling Hall, The Gardens Casino, and Hollywood Park Casino are all located in affected counties.
For many cardrooms located in the state, doors had just opened before they were forced to close again. The Bicycle Casino opened on June 19. Some Southern California tribal casinos began opening as early as May 18. Guests of both tribal casinos and cardrooms were required to wear masks and maintain social distancing at the poker games due to safety measures.
After the thee-week period, Newsom will evaluate the situation based on the latest coronavirus data and decide if these businesses will be allowed to reopen. Meanwhile, the casinos in other states have been shut down again due to the constantly increasing cases of COVID-19 pandemic. Three casinos in Arizona and two others in Oklahoma after some employees contracted coronavirus.