All Retailers Set To Open In-Store Shopping In L.A.

Los Angeles County is expected to amend its current “Safer at Home” health order to allow for all retail locations within the county to open for in-store shopping, as allowed by new state guidelines issued Monday, according to Supervisor Janice Hahn

“You’ve got to be safe about this. But I think they can do it – as long as they, again, limit the number of customers, make sure people can physically distance, and have people wear face coverings,” Hahn told ABC7 Monday. “I think it’s a real lifeline that has been thrown to our small businesses – at a time when many of them, frankly, were wondering whether or not they could make it.”

County officials did specify that retail does not include personal services such as hair and nail salons, and barbershops.

The revision to the state health order allows smaller retail stores to open for in-store shopping in a similar manner that larger stores such as Wal-Mart and Target have been operating.

These include:

• Limiting the number of people allowed inside the store
• Maintaining as much physical distancing as possible
• Use of face coverings by both employees and customers
• Frequent handwashing, as well as regular cleaning and disinfection
• Training employees on these and other elements of the COVID-19 prevention plan

The revised state orders do require individual county public health departments to approve these openings, which falls largely in line to California’s policy of allowing counties to implement stricter guidelines than the state.

The county health order is expected to be officially revised at some point this week.