Bars, breweries to close at 5 p.m. in Santa Barbara County

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - Bars, breweries and the indoor portions of restaurants will be closing in Santa Barbara County beginning 5 p.m. Thursday.

Santa Barbara County Public Health have issued a modified health officer order that requires certain industries to close up shop for the next three weeks. It comes on the heels of Governor Gavin Newsom's order to the 19 counties on the state's monitoring list.

Newsom ordered all bars, breweries, pubs and nightclubs to close for three weeks. Restaurants and other industries need to close their indoor operations, but can expand to the outdoors if possible.

Museums, zoos and movie theaters are included in this order. They must close their indoor operations, but can stay open if there's room outside. Santa Barbara Zoo will remain open during this time.

Beaches are staying open in Santa Barbara County, but parking will be restricted.

“We have made the decision to close these businesses in order to follow State guidance, especially since our case count continues to rise day by day. This action, particularly in anticipation of the holiday weekend, is a proactive measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 locally,” said County Public Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg.

The order will remain in place until July 26, at which point the health department will decide whether to amend, extend or cancel the order.