Los Angeles County beaches will be closed for the July 4 weekend, following continued increases in new COVID-19 cases in L.A. County. The L.A. Health Officer Order also requires piers, beach bicycle paths, and adjacent parking lots to be temporarily closed.

What You Need To Know


  • Word of possible closures began to spread across the county on Monday, as agencies and cities were told to be “on standby."

  • Beaches reopened for “active use only” on May 13, followed by staggered reopenings of bike paths, parking lots, and piers. 

  • The beach closures closely follow on the heels of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order closing bars across L.A. County on Sunday.

On Monday, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer announced 2,903 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, the county's largest single-day total.

News broke when the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Lost Hills station posted about the closures on their Facebook page. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn confirmed the closures.

When asked how enforcement would take place in case of a beach closure, a Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors spokesperson said that they would follow the previous model for beach enforcement as used during the most recent closure.

"For that, we rely on our partners in law enforcement to issue citations or make arrests, if necessary," said Beaches and Harbors spokeswoman Nicole Mooradian. "These local law enforcement agencies were Torrance Police Department, Redondo Beach Police Department, Manhattan Beach Police Department, LAPD and LASD, depending on jurisdiction."

“We’re hatching plans to figure out how we’re going to staff the beach. I imagine there are going to be a number of people not complying [with the order], but lifeguards are not law enforcement,” LA County Lifeguards spokesperson Pono Barnes says, adding that lifeguards “were not used in the decision-making.”

Word of possible closures began to spread across the county on Monday, as agencies and cities were told to be “on standby." An official from one coastal city said that their city was told to expect a closure announcement.

L.A. County beaches were closed to the public on March 27, in accordance with the county's Safer at Home order. Beaches reopened for “active use only” on May 13, followed by staggered reopenings of bike paths, parking lots, and piers. 

The beach closures closely follow on the heels of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order closing bars across L.A. County on Sunday.

Newsom’s order rolls public health orders back to previous instructions to close all drinking establishments “unless they are offering sit-down dine-in meals.” Bars had only been given the OK to reopen for business as of Friday, June 19.

On Monday, officials reported “a sharp increase” in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. There have been a total of 100,772 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 3,326 deaths, according to the Department of Public Health.