Based not only on its massive population but also due to lax regulations regarding health and safety protocols, Los Angeles has been one of the hotbeds of the coronavirus pandemic over the past year, though it was recently announced that movie theaters will begin to resume operation as early as this weekend. Los Angeles county is currently in the “red” tier of closures, but based on the rate of its distribution of vaccinations, it is expected to move into the “purple” tier in the coming days, allowing not only for movie theaters to reopen, but also indoor dining and theme parks.
Upon reopening, theaters will operate at 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever number might be smaller, per Deadline. Additionally, outdoor events like sports and concerts will be able to operate at 20% attendance.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom shared the promising news from a vaccination site.
“Southern California, you will be a beneficiary of this,” Newsom shared. “Specifically, L.A. will be a big beneficiary of this new metric that likely will be met on Friday. And moving through the weekend and into next week, you will see more activity, more loosening of the tiers. That’s encouraging and I hope people will be enthusiastic about what this means moving forward, because we have a series of other thresholds and other goals that will allow us to move forward with more clarity, more conviction, and more confidence as we move through the next few weeks and the next few months.”
Just earlier this week, Disneyland detailed their hopes of resuming operations this spring, with the theme park having been shut down since March of 2020. A majority of other amusement parks around the world, however, have been able to operate in a reduced capacity for months.
“We are encouraged that theme parks now have a path toward reopening this spring, getting thousands of people back to work and greatly helping neighboring businesses and our entire community,” Disneyland Resort president Ken Potrock shared in a statement. “With responsible Disney safety protocols already implemented around the world, we can’t wait to welcome our guests back and look forward to sharing an opening date soon.”
If these vaccination numbers continue to grow as expected, it’s possible that some of the year’s biggest releases will still be able to debut in theaters as expected.
Stay tuned for details on movie theater reopenings.
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