Orange County reaches yellow tier, but locals look forward to proposed June reopening
Yellow’s the new orange in Orange County, but business owners and residents are already looking ahead to June 15 — the day proposed by state officials for California to fully reopen its economy.
Orange County transitioned into the last and least restrictive tier in the state’s reopening framework on Wednesday, but that doesn’t lend itself to much change in operations for most businesses, which largely have been able to operate at 50% capacities since the county entered the orange tier on March 29.
As of Wednesday, the adjusted daily case rate for every 100,000 residents is 1.5. Additionally, the test positivity rate and the health equity quartile positivity rate are both now 0.9%.
For Ruth Ann Jacobson, who co-owns Patrick’s Pub in Costa Mesa with husband Andy, this week’s transition won’t bring too many changes, thanks to one simple addition that allowed them to begin accepting customers back indoors in March — a hot dog machine.
Offering food at the local watering hole allowed the couple to welcome back thirsty patrons earlier than they would have been able to, after state health officials sanctioned the modified reopening of breweries and bars with food menus.
“We did research to see what would qualify [for reopening], and we’ve been serving hot dogs every day since,” Jacobson said Wednesday.
Coming back online has been a welcome reprieve for the couple, who bought Patrick’s from the previous owner in November 2020, smack in the middle of the pandemic. They were open a scant four days before Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a statewide shut-down of businesses would begin on Dec. 7.
“It was really busy, and people were excited to get out,” Jacobson recalled of the brief run. “We opened on a Friday, then we found out the governor was shutting us down. So, we got four good days in there.”
After that long closure, the Costa Mesa pub wouldn’t see a customer grace its doorstep for another three months. This spring, Patrick’s opened its doors just in time for St. Patrick’s Day — at a limited capacity — and got a decent response.
Patrick’s announced Monday on social media it was returning to full operating hours. Now, anyone of age can grab a cold one between the hours of noon and 2 a.m. daily, where earlier they had to restrict patronage to 3 p.m. to midnight on weekdays.
Jacobson said now, although it’s no longer a necessity, the hot dog machine will stay.
“I think we might keep it,” she added. “People like the hot dogs as the night goes on and they’re having drinks.”
The same was true for the Lot in Fashion Island, where general manager Rayner Chi said the theater got shut down in March last year. They’d managed to reopen again in August at 25% capacity before having to shut down again in November.
The theater recently reopened in April at 50% capacity.
But even with the transition in the state-mandated tiers, Chi said he’s looking forward to the June 15 date in hopes of being able to increase that number.
“I’m not really sure what the word is up there in Sacramento, but if we can even go up to 75%, that would be the silver lining that we’ve been waiting for for the past year,” Chi said. “It’s kind of up to the state. In a perfect world, we’d love to open up at 100% capacity. We’re still in the dark if that’s even going to happen.
“Even if I was at 75%, that would be a lot better than the 50% where we’re at currently.”
Meanwhile, for Marisa Fader at Bushard’s Pharmacy in Laguna Beach, where they’ve been vaccinating people at a clinic that they run twice a week at the old Laguna Drug location, it’s been nice watching some life return to the town.
“We have been open the entire time, so at one point, we were the only store open on the street,” said Fader, who is the vice president of the pharmacy. “You know, during that quarantine, I think it was like last March...when you weren’t allowed to leave your house, we were the only essential business on Forest, so Laguna was kind of a ghost town during that shutdown period.”
“[The Promenade on Forest’s] something different, and it obviously helped all the restaurants. I don’t think they would have survived without it,” she added.
Steven Rosansky, the president and chief executive officer of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, said that in his opinion, the transition in tiers is a marker for the consumer and less for businesses, which are largely continuing to operate at similar levels in previous months and reopening tiers.
“It’s not ‘How many customers can I have come in?’ It’s from the customer’s side of, ‘I feel more comfortable about going in,’” he said, adding that he expects changes to come down the pipeline on outdoor patios and dining as life returns to normal.
This was true for Los Angeles resident Caleb Romulo, who was stopping by Jack’s Surfboards in Huntington Beach on Wednesday with his friend, Vinny Angelo of Baldwin Park. The two came down to Main Street for Vinny’s birthday.
Caleb, 16, said that he feels more comfortable eating inside now, but that he hadn’t felt comfortable doing anything else inside for the better part of a year.
Vinny, also 16, said that he plans on abiding by restrictions put forward by businesses and said he planned on masking up if he’s asked to be by people.
“If businesses still require [masks] because it’s their own private property, then I’ll still do it. I’m not going to complain. If I’m walking around outside, I’ll probably stop wearing it,” Vinny said.
“I personally am going to keep wearing a mask because I don’t want to be that one person walking around, like, ‘Look at me. I’m different than you guys. You have to follow me,’” Vinny said. “I’m just doing whatever anybody asks me to do. I’m a sheep.”
But along with the reopening comes the arrival of the summer tourist season. Gary Sherwin, president and chief executive officer of Newport Beach & Co., said he feels that leisure travel will begin to come back this year, even if business conferences won’t.
“In March last year, we went from 80% occupancy to 5% occupancy literally within two weeks. It was greatest, precipitous fall in tourism in the city’s history,” Sherwin said.
Sherwin said the hospitality industry has suffered through the last year with the absence of both leisure and business travel, though there were early signs this year that senior travel was beginning again as people began to gain access to vaccines.
Last week, Sherwin said that the city finally reached 50% total occupancy.
“The visitor industry in just the city of Newport Beach is a $1 billion a year industry. That’s in gross spending. That’s at hotels, restaurants, retail and even includes people who go to Fletcher Jones Mercedes and take home a car as a souvenir, which by the way happens,” Sherwin said, laughing.
Data hasn’t been compiled on how the industry was hurt in Newport Beach alone last year, but Sherwin expects the numbers to average with numbers nationally and statewide.
“It does give you a little more confidence that you can venture out, but June 15 is only a few weeks away,” Sherwin said.
“I think June 15 right now is going to have even more a profound meaning than going to the yellow tier. There’s people that feel safe enough to go to Disneyland, but ‘I don’t want to go with a mask.’”
Sherwin said that he knows not everyone will feel comfortable immediately and is hopeful people will continue to get vaccinated.
“The yellow tier — most people don’t keep track of that. June 15 seems to be the clear marker. That’s the date we all need to work towards because then we’re going to be able to see a real recovery,” Sherwin said.
“Until then, this is a minor sign. But we’re all wanting to ‘all clear’ sign at this point.”
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