Decreasing Covid Hospitalizations and Increased Vaccinations, What it Means for Businesses in SoCal?

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

With the decreasing number of hospitalizations from Covid-19, California has slowly begun to remove policies that prevented many businesses from functioning. 

The removal of the stay-at-home order earlier this year allowed businesses to slowly increase their in-store occupancy numbers and once again allowed outdoor dining to resume. 

However, what does this mean in the grand scheme of things?

For starters, it means California has returned to using the four color-coded tier list to determine the relevance of Covid-19 in counties across California. 

Although all of SoCal is in the purple tier, as of Feb. 16, it does mean that businesses are allowed to reopen with restrictions. For example, grocery stores are able to return to 50% occupancy rates and retail at 25%; While restaurants are able to return to modified outdoor dining.

In a New York Times article, Gov. Newsom talked about his plan to “rush to lift restrictions as quickly as possible once the numbers indicated it would be safe to do so,” and how he is hopeful of the rolling out of vaccines in California.

The rollout of vaccines and declining numbers of hospitalizations indicates the steady reopening of California 

With hopes of the virus declining, major amusement parks like Six Flags Magic Mountains are optimistic about reopening in the Spring of 2021, tweeting “We’ve missed you! Are you ready for thrills this year?” 

In an article by ABC 13, an interview with Erin Guerrero, executive director at California Attractions and Parks Association, mentions how “there's some optimism [on opening Six Flags]  given the numbers and vaccine rollout but nothing concrete."

In another interview in the article, Bonnie Weber, senior vice president of Park Operations, states how the “company is working with state and local officials to set firm reopening dates for its parks,” and how this applies to their parks in “California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mexico City, and Canada.”

The optimism of reopening theme parks isn’t only coming from theme parks, many other businesses are hopeful for the day California finally reopens. 

It is only a matter of time before vaccinations are available to all and with the decline in Covid-19 related hospitalizations, that future doesn’t seem all too unreal.