California officials will allow people to attend Major League baseball games and other sporting events, go to Disneyland and watch live shows with limited capacity starting April 1st.
The rules announced on Friday coincide with the opening day of baseball. The San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics all have home games scheduled for April 1.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s chief public health official, said the state is acting now because rates of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are declining, while the number of people receiving the vaccine is rising.
“Today’s announcement focuses on building compelling science on how the virus behaves and how activities performed in a certain way can reduce risk,” Ghaly said.
Friday’s announcement refers only to outdoor activities. Attendance at indoor events, including NBA games and concerts, is still prohibited. Coming up with rules for indoor events is “much more difficult,” said Dee Dee Myers, the governor’s chief adviser and director of the governor’s Bureau of Business and Economic Development.
“We will continue to work on this. We will be back in the next few weeks and we will try to update this so that we can provide more visibility and a way forward for more companies,” Myers said.
California classifies its counties according to four color-coded levels, based on the spread of the virus. The purple level is the most restrictive, followed by red, orange and yellow. Attendance limits are based on the level of a county.
Theme parks can open at a red level at a capacity of 15% and only people living in California can buy tickets. Presence limits increase to 25% in orange and 35% in yellow. Walks indoors are allowed because they are short and allow for proper spacing.
Outdoor sports are limited to 100 people in the purple level. These limits increase to 20% capacity in the red level, 33% in the orange level and 67% in the yellow level.
Teams can sell tickets at the regional level in the purple level and at the state level in the other levels. Concessions in the purple level are not allowed. At other levels, concessions will be limited to on-site purchases.