Riverside County moves to less-restrictive tier, allowing more businesses to reopen with modifications

LOS ANGELES - On Wednesday morning, Riverside County residents flocked to local gyms after the county was given the green light to reopen more businesses.

State officials announced Sept. 23 that Riverside County moved to a less restrictive tier, which allows more businesses to reopen with modifications, including gyms, movie theaters, and restaurants for dine-in service.

With the announcement, the Southern California county moved from the "purple tier," the state’s most restrictive tier, to the "red tier," which allows the reopening of more nonessential businesses with modifications.

Businesses that are allowed to reopen and operate indoors with modifications include:

• Gyms and fitness centers (capacity limited to 10%).

• Dance studios (10% capacity).

• Aquariums, zoos, museums (indoor capacity limited to 25%).

• Retail (indoor capacity limited to 50%).

• Wineries (outdoors only)

• Cultural ceremonies (limited to 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer).

• Family entertainment centers (outdoors only).

• Shopping centers (50% capacity).

• Movie theaters (25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is less).

• Places of worship (indoor activities limited to 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is
less).

•Dine-in restaurants (indoor capacity limited to 25% or 100 people, whichever is less and must close by 10 p.m. nightly).

•Weddings (indoor ceremonies only; limited to 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer).

In Southern California, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Imperial, and Ventura counties remain in the "purple tier," while Riverside County joins Orange and San Diego counties in the "red tier."

Even with the updated tier status, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Hewitt planned to present a proposal that defied the state order and would expedite the ability to reopen more businesses. He said he intended to ask his colleagues to support a two-month plan that would lift all public health regulations that have locked down large swaths of the regional economy, resulting in thousands of job losses and other impacts that he said will be felt "for years to come."

On Tuesday night, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to redraft a plan for the accelerated removal of coronavirus public health regulations, allowing all Riverside County businesses, churches and other entities to fully open by the first week of November.

Supervisors Kevin Jeffries and Karen Spiegel want to make several minor amendments to the proposal by Supervisor Jeff Hewitt, setting the stage for another vote on Oct. 6.