L.A. County has more open this weekend than it has in months. What you can and can’t do

Beaches are open. A growing number of businesses are open for curbside service. Hiking is again OK in most areas.

Slowly, Southern California is reopening, and this weekend, residents will be able to do more than they have in weeks.

But there are still strict safety rules aimed at slowing the coronavirus.

Here is what you and can’t do this weekend:

Beaches

Los Angeles County beaches are now open to limited activities in what amounts to a small but symbolic milestone in the effort to slowly ease stay-at-home orders implemented to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

— Permitted activities will include running, walking, swimming and surfing. Group sports like volleyball are prohibited.

— Other activities, including picnicking and sunbathing, and their accessories — canopies, coolers and the like — will continue to be prohibited.

— Face coverings will be mandatory for anyone on the sand but not for people in the water. Beachgoers will be required to practice social distancing by staying at least six feet away from other groups, the department said.

— Beach parking lots, bike paths, piers and boardwalks will remain closed.

Other Southern California counties already reopened their beaches, with social distancing rules.

Trails and parks

Many parks, golf courses, recreation areas and trailheads are back open across the region, with social distancing rules.

Even Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge reopens today.

Here is a full list of what’s open.

Businesses

Many retail businesses are now open for curbside pickup.

According to the county, here is what is opening:

• Lower-risk businesses (curbside, door side, outdoor pickup or via delivery only)
• Retailers that are not in an indoor mall or shopping center.
• Manufacturing and logistics-sector businesses that supply lower-risk retail businesses.

Among low-risk retailers:

• Bookstores
• Clothing stores
• Florists
• Music stores
• Sporting goods stores
• Toy stores
• Car dealership showrooms (open for sales with adherence to distancing and infection control protocols)

Restaurants remain open for pickup and delivery but not dine-in service. Malls remain closed.

Mask rules

City of Los Angeles

Where must you wear a face covering?

• If you visit any retail business (except those in indoor malls, which are still closed), including those that are open only for curbside or doorside pickup
• If you exercise in your neighborhood or are on a trail, golf course or beach (where you must wear a face covering if you are out of the water and people are nearby)
• If you ride on L.A. Department of Transportation transit buses, Metro buses or trains, or travel through Los Angeles International Airport
• The new guidelines on face coverings exempt children under 2 and people with certain disabilities.

Mayor Eric Garcetti says the more stringent mask-wearing rules are a necessary step to help slow the spread of the coronavirus and eventually reopen the economy in a bigger way.

“Bring your mask with you whenever you leave your home,” Garcetti said. “That will help us get more freedoms.”

Los Angeles County

Guidance: “Masks are, in fact, mandatory across the entire county when you’re outside of your home, not with members of your household and in any kind of contact with other people,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.

Even when on a solitary walk or run, Ferrer said, “you now need to have a face covering with you, because if you came by other people, you were walking by other people, you tried to go into a grocery store, you absolutely have to have that face covering on.”

Residents should wear a cloth face covering “any time you’re out and there are people around, whether it be at a trailhead or a parking lot or a sidewalk,” she said. Officials also said visitors to the county’s beaches, which opened Wednesday for active recreational use, must cover their faces unless they are in the water.

San Diego County

Masks are required in public but only when the wearer is within six feet of others. Jogging, bicycling and other outdoor activities are exempt, though the city does require residents to carry a mask outdoors and have it readily available in case other people appear.

Orange County

Under a county ordinance issued last month, “all employees of any grocery store, pharmacy/drug store, convenience store, gas station, restaurant, food preparation establishment, or retail store in Orange County who may have contact with the public must wear a cloth face covering while at work.”