Santa Barbara County closes beaches for Fourth of July weekend due to COVID-19

Following similar moves by other counties, Santa Barbara’s Public Health Officer decided to close local beaches for the Fourth of July weekend.

Dr. Henning Ansorg’s order came out Thursday and will be in effect all of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, according to the Public Health Department.

“The temporary closure of all beaches is necessary due to the anticipated high volume of people at our beaches during the July 4th weekend, which will impede the practice of safe and necessary social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Santa Barba County,” he said in a statement.

“The landscape for this upcoming weekend has changed in the past few days as more and more counties have decided to close their beaches. This raised significant concern for the impacts to our local community.”

When the county says all public beaches in the county will be closed, it means surfing, kayaking and other water sports are allowed, and so is walking or running on the beach, but “sitting, lying, standing, sunbathing, sight-seeing, picnicking, and all other non-exercise, passive or sedentary activities are prohibited.”

Ventura and Los Angeles counties have closed their beaches, and public health officials likely are concerned about residents from those areas coming to Santa Barbara for the holiday weekend, as many did over Memorial Day weekend.

The Santa Barbara City Council debated beach closures at its Tuesday meeting and ultimately voted against it. The city did decide to close all beachfront parking lots, and local state parks and beaches are closing their parking for the weekend as well.

Neighboring San Luis Obispo County has decided to keep its beaches open for the weekend, according to The San Luis Obispo Tribune.

Ansorg’s beach closure order was issued within two hours of his order closing bars and indoor operations of restaurants, movie theaters, and other industries.

Santa Barbara County has been on a state “watchlist” for 16 days for having high reported increases in the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.