Riverside County orders bars to close down again amid upswing in coronavirus cases

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- Riverside County is ordering all bars to close down again to help slow a new surge in coronavirus cases.

The move, effective Tuesday, comes a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom suggested Riverside close its bars and ordered a number of other counties, including Los Angeles, to close.

"People don't social distance well after a couple drinks, and it's one of the hardest environments to trace contacts in," said Dr. Cameron Kaiser,RiversideCounty public health officer. "My hope is that this will be only temporary and further closures won't be needed, but it all depends on what every one of us as a county do to slow more spread."

The county had reopened its bars on June 12. But since that time, Riverside and a number of other counties in California have seen an alarming upswing in COVID-19 cases.

The move comes as almost every ICU bed in Riverside County is currently being used. The county website shows ICU utilization has steadily risen in the past two weeks, from about 82% just two weeks ago to almost 99% as of Sunday.