San Luis Obispo County lifts two health orders, issues one new order

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. - As the pandemic continues, the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department decided to lift two executive orders related to COVID-19 and issue one new one.

On Monday, the County lifted the executive order limiting occupancy rates at short-term lodging facilities. The County also lifted a Public Health Officer Order restricting visitors and non-essential personnel from hospitals and certain types of licensed residential facilities.

The new Public Health Order that was issued intends to continue visitation restrictions at skilled nursing facilities.

“COVID-19 is also known to be especially dangerous at skilled nursing facilities, causing high rates of serious illness and fatalities,” said County Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein. “For this reason, we continue to restrict visitors to skilled nursing facilities.”

The County explained that the former short-term lodging restriction was intended to reduce visits from out-of-county travelers in order to reduce potential spread of COVID-19 to the community. The original visitation restriction was intended to protect the high-risk community from infection.

Now that the State has issued guidance and best practices for both hotels and for hospitals and residential facilities, the County feels comfortable lifting those two local orders.

“We continue to emphasize that now is not the time for leisure travel and to remind potential visitors that the statewide order restricting non-essential travel remains in effect,” Dr. Borenstein said. “The greatest public health vulnerability in our county is the spread of COVID-19 from other areas experiencing high rates of infection. We ask everyone in SLO County and in our neighboring counties to respect the statewide order.” 

For updates on COVID-19 within the county, you can visit ReadySLO.org.