Kern County no longer on the list of monitored counties, but officials warn return is possible

KERN COUNTY, Calif. — Kern County is no longer on the state's "watch list" of counties, but county officials say a return is possible as early as this weekend.

On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a rollback on the state's reopening plan, announcing the statewide closure of certain sectors as coronavirus cases continue to spread. The list includes sectors like restaurants, wineries and tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos, museums, and cardrooms.

Newsom also stated that counties on the state's monitoring list would also have to roll back the opening of other sectors such as fitness centers, gyms, places of worship, offices for non-critical sectors, personal care services such as hair salons and barbershops and indoor malls. Initially, during his briefing, Newsom listed Kern County as one of those counties affected by the rollback.

However, a short time later, Newsom tweeted that would not be affected by the closures because the county had been removed from the State's County Monitoring List. As such Kern County did not have to roll back re-opening of fitness centers, gyms, places of worship, offices for non-critical sectors, personal care services such as hair salons and barbershops and indoor malls.

County spokesperson Megan Person said as of Sunday, Kern County exceeded the State’s monitoring metrics. Three subsequent consecutive days on the monitoring list results in the Governor’s newly announced restrictions applying in Kern.

"At this time, it is anticipated that the Governor’s restrictions will apply to Kern County, effective 12:01 a.m. on Saturday," Person said.

However, the county still has to close indoor operations of restaurants, wineries and tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos, museums, and cardrooms since this was a state-wide mandate.