California has officially reopened! Here's what to expect.

Elslunko/Creative Commons

It is official!

Yesterday, June 15, Los Angeles and the rest of California has reopened all operations for the first time since the start of the pandemic in January of last year (the first case of Coronavirus in Los Angeles was recorded on January 22nd).

Los Angeles and the rest of the state have been under different levels of protective restrictions to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. Non-essential travel was barred, and quarantine was set in place, leaving the Los Angeles and California economy scrambling.

California has been working tirelessly to spread the word and get people vaccinated in order to lower the new cases of COVID-19 so the state could one day reopen. Los Angeles and other California residents listened, with Los Angeles and other areas seeing the lowest new cases in over a year. Due to everyone's hard work in may the California health Department published a statement saying it was "safe to remove nearly all restrictions in June".

Following suit, Gov. Gavin Newsom told California residents soon after June 15 would be the day the state reopens or "returns to something close to normal". As long as Los Angeles and other California locals were able to "continue ultra-low COVID-19 trends including hospitalizations and transmission rates."

The plan is to lift business restrictions and return to "normal" as much as possible.  

Gov. Newsome says, “We’ll be getting rid of the colored tiers. We’ll be moving past the dimmer switch. We’ll be getting rid of the blueprint as we know it."

This is a huge change for Los Angeles and the rest of California. The state has been using a color-coded blueprint towards the reopening of the state for 31 weeks. As California reopens, officials will be using the color coded system for 8 1/2. The reopening of the state is still tentative. If numbers of new COVID-19 cases rise, things may return to a restricted status.

For now, Californians can rejoice. Seasonal events like Halloween Horror Nights in Los Angeles (Hollywood), Knotts Scary Farms (Buena Park), and Six Flags Fright Fest (Valencia) are coming back just in time for the reopening.

There are a few reasonable catches, though. While vaccinated people can go without masks in the majority of places, public transit, airports, hospitals, etc. (For a full list take a look at this helpful article.) Non-vaccinated people are required to wear a mask at all times, and businesses have the option to ask for proof of vaccination or a verbal confirmation, but this is based on an "honor system".

California will require anyone going to indoor events or "mega-events" of more than 5,000 attendies to show proof of their COVID-19 vaccinations. Planners of outdoor events like music festivals and concerts with more than 10,000 guests are urged to require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations or a negative COVID-19 test.

If you are out of state, you can travel freely to Los Angeles or any other part of California if you are fully vaccinated. If you are not, the CDC urges you not to travel until you are.

This is very exciting news for California, and I hope that everything can return back to as close to normal as possible soon. I'm looking forward to visiting ASAP.

What are your thoughts about the state re-opening?

https://www.nytimes.com/article/california-reopening-faq.html

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-08-21/surprising-tale-first-la-covid-19-case

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-california-reopening-june-15-governor-gavin-newsom/

"Downtown Los Angeles" by ElSlunko is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

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