The state of California has lifted all regional Stay Home orders, effective immediately.
Today's announcement returns counties in affected regions - including southern California - to their color-coded tier status and associated rules for what business may open, and how.
?? #CA lifts the regional stay at home order statewide as four-week ICU capacity projections exceed 15% for the remaining impacted regions. Most counties are returning to the most strict (purple) tier of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
— CA Public Health (@CAPublicHealth) January 25, 2021
For more info: https://t.co/hPFNkb1svN pic.twitter.com/Qx3GER53Li
While this change moves California's theme parks a step closer toward reopening, that date remains far in the future, given Covid-19 case loads across the region. Like all major counties in the state, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties are returning to the most-restrictive Purple tier - at the opposite end of the spectrum from the least-restrictive Yellow tier, in which theme parks are allowed to reopen their attractions to guests.
However, the Purple tier does allow for the return of outdoor dining, which should allow theme parks to resume more of the special events they had been staging in order to welcome some guests back inside their gates. Under the Stay Home order, only drive-through events had been permitted, which Six Flags Magic Mountain and SeaWorld San Diego had taken advantage of with their Holiday in the Park and Sesame Street Parade of Lights events.
The return of outdoor dining also affects Disneyland's Downtown Disney and Universal Studios Hollywood's CityWalk, which both saw several venues close while the Stay Home order was in place.
Counties may still impose their own restrictions on top of the state's rules, so it is possible that counties could continue to restrict theme park activities beyond what the state permits. We will let you know what happens next.
* * *
We wanted you to read this article before we make our newsletter pitch, unlike so many other websites. If you appreciate that — and our approach to covering theme park news — please sign up for our free, twice-a-week email newsletter. Thank you.
