On Tuesday, O.C. officials announced the reopening of golf courses with some restrictions.
In a unanimous vote, The Orange County Board of Supervisors chose to reopen private and pubic golf courses. The move follows protests in Sacramento and Newport Beach along with mounting pressure from residents.
Golf courses were not explicitly included in the list of nonessential businesses during the coronavirus outbreak, but according to officials, most businesses had closed down in line with the state-wide stay-at-home order.
According to the Times, the proposal was made by supervisor Lisa Bartlett after a grueling series of phone calls from golf course operators and golfers.
“Stay off the golf courses, shut everything down, is not the direction we should be going right now,” said Orange County County Supervisor Don Wagner. “I think we should be going in the opposite direction, trying to open as much as we can responsibly.”
While restaurants and other amenities will remain closed, the golf courses will reopen with guidelines for social distancing and sanitization. Similar to the new restrictions imposed in Riverside County’s reopening, the new restrictions will involve the following:
- party sizes restricted to 4
- physical distancing measures
- touchpoints will be eliminated
- tee-off times will be staggered
In addition to this news, officials also announced that some Orange County beaches would remain open. However, all city beaches in Orange County will remain closed, which includes beaches in San Clemente, Seal Beach, The Wedge in Newport Beach, and Laguna Beach.
Social distancing guidelines are expected to be adhered to by officials.