Long Beach making 1,000 face shields available to restaurants
VENDRELL, SPAIN - A waiter wearing a face shield and gloves as a protective measure serves a beer to a customer at a restaurant. (Photo by Ramon Costa/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
LONG BEACH, Calif. - With restaurants across Long Beach and the rest of Los Angeles County permitted to open to customers once again, officials in Long Beach announced a program to supply up to 1,000 face shields to city restaurants free of charge.
The Health Order that went into effect Friday night requires servers in restaurants to wear both cloth face coverings and face shields, to maximize
protection against the coronavirus. City officials said they wanted to move quickly since restaurants might not have easy, immediate access to face shields
this weekend.
"We want to provide our restaurants and workers with the protection they need,'' Mayor Robert Garcia said. "We will continue to implement programs to help our small businesses.''
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Face shields are also a requirement in the county's health order, which is more stringent than surrounding counties due to the higher numbers of cases in Los Angeles County. Long Beach adopted the same requirement as Los Angeles County.
Restaurant representatives can pick up face shields in the parking lot of Long Beach Fire Department Headquarters at 3205 Lakewood Blvd. Shields are limited to five per location, and will be available on a first come, first served basis.
Shields are available for pickup Saturday from 1-4 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.