Coronavirus: Ventura County begins loosening restrictions amid pandemic

VENTURA, Calif. (KABC) -- Ventura County is loosening up its restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic. Among them, residents can go to a car dealership or bike shop in person to make a purchase -- just practice physical distancing.

Some other types of businesses are also being allowed to reopen, if their employees do not interact directly with members of the public. They are limited to having no more than 10 employees at the site during a 24-hour period and those inside must practice physical distancing.

Businesses that rely on direct interactions with the public, such as retail stores, gyms, bars and nightclubs, remain closed. Gun stores remain closed, but transactions that were started with applications before the closure orders took effect are allowed to be completed, by appointment only and with only the purchaser and one store employee present.

Details of Ventura County's new order, which took effect Monday, are available here.

"Stay Well at Home" orders have been extended through May 15. No more than five people can gather in public while practicing physical distancing.

The people we talked to on Monday say they hope restrictions be loosened up gradually.

"I think what we have to prevent is a knee jerk, uh we're just frustrated and just want to get out there and want things back to normal. We have to think of this as the new normal," said Donald Petrie, a Ventura County resident.

Ventura County's latest figures show 428 positive cases with 6 new cases reported on Monday. Officials say 222 patients have recovered and 13 deaths have been reported.

Ventura County began taking steps to slowly ease stay-at-home restrictions for recreation areas and some businesses as officials say residents have been heeding those orders amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"I don't see a surge happening today. If I said that it would have been in hypothetical terms cause I've never known when we're going to see a surge. I still don't know when we're going to see a surge, or if we're going to see a surge. I will tell you this, if we stop practicing quarantine and social distancing, we'll see a surge," said Ventura County Public Health Officer Dr. Robert Levin.