Newport Beach Lifeguards Test Positive for COVID-19, Prompting 4th of July Beach Closures. Photo: Herson Rodriguez
Between beach closures in other Southern California counties, 4th of July holiday falling on a Saturday, and Newport Beach traditionally being an Independence Day place-to-be, it wouldn’t have been a big surprise if the town had record crowds this coming weekend. City officials had originally planned to keep their beaches open for the holiday as California adjusts to its newest spike in COVID-19 cases, implementing some safety precautions but maintaining its sand would be open to the public. However, when two seasonal lifeguards tested positive for Coronavirus, an emergency City Council meeting was called for Wednesday and a decision made to close down the city’s beaches for the holiday.
“I cannot in good conscience add more onto our lifeguards,” Mayor Will O’Neill said at the council meeting Wednesday. “We just can’t responsibly ask our lifeguards to do more with less. We just can’t.”
The two positive cases also brought on an immediate quarantine of 23 other guards who may have been exposed while another guard reportedly has COVID-19 symptoms and awaits test results. According to the Los Angeles Times, the city had planned to have a staff of 60 guards on duty and on standby for the holiday weekend before the news. Taking all that into account, City Council voted 6-to-1 in favor of closing beaches from 10 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. on July 5th.
“The concern is, I’ll just put it bluntly, we can staff this weekend, we’ll just be stretched pretty thin so if something does go awry over the next few days and we have more positives and have to quarantine, then we’re in some pretty severe draw-down levels,” said Newport Beach Fire Department Chief, Jeff Boyle.
The Newport Beach decision came following the same decision in neighboring Laguna Tuesday, then prompting Huntington Beach and Seal Beach to close their shores and facilities connected to beaches like piers and even beachside restrooms.
