City won’t enforce new more-severe county COVID-19 tier restrictions

The City of Canyon Lake is disappointed that the state has moved Riverside County back into the more restrictive “purple tier,” City Manager Chris Mann said, and encourages residents and businesses to follow the stiffer restrictions. But, he said the city won’t enforce them.

“City Code Enforcement personnel will not be issuing citations for violations of state regulations pertaining to COVID-19,” Chris said. “The city will continue providing help to businesses during these difficult times.”

The Purple Tier means that restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and places of worship can no longer have limited indoor operations. After having spent weeks on the Red Tier, local restaurants will be back to outdoor dining and take-out because of the shift to the Purple Tier.

The move to the new tier is a result of various state-monitored COVID-19 metrics moving to more severe results. Riverside County will need to remain in the Purple Tier for at least three weeks and meet the Red Tier metrics for two of those weeks before returning to the Red Tier.

Despite the countywide increase in severity, the COVID-19 crisis has been stable in Canyon Lake. Per capita results for both positive test results and death for the city continue to be the third lowest among the county’s cities. Regardless, county restrictions apply to all cities in the county, including Canyon Lake.

“This will no doubt be a hardship for local small businesses, such as restaurants and gyms, which will no longer be able to provide indoor services,” Chris said. “We will continue to offer temporary outdoor business permits at no charge as a way to allow businesses to operate.”

He said the city will continue to advocate at the state level for its city businesses to be allowed to fully re-open.

“We will continue to waive business license renewal fees for businesses that have been adversely impacted by COVID-19,” Chris said. “We will continue utilizing the city’s social media accounts to encourage residents to shop and dine in Canyon Lake.”

Meanwhile, the Lake Elsinore Unified School District, which was moving toward reopening some level of in-person instruction, may be thwarted by the rise to the Purple Tier. Only schools that were already open are able to remain open, but no new schools are allowed to reopen while in the Purple Tier.

The district met last night after the printing of The Friday Flyer to discuss its reopening plans. The board was to consider whether in-person instruction would return Jan.13 under a hybrid learning model. Reopening schools depends on the County of Riverside being in the red tier at the time of reopening.

“Reopening schools in January 2021 allows time to align and rebuild master schedules and staffing assignments for the second semester start,” LEUSD Superintendent Dr. Doug Kimberly said. It also allows time for the county to return to the Red Tier.

In other action, the Board of Trustees reviewed student schedules for reopening under a hybrid model. Distance Learning will be supported for students who are unable to return in person according to a parent survey that closed last week. Approval of student schedules for Elementary, Middle and High School will complete the district’s draft school reopening plan approved on Oct. 8.

LEUSD’s latest parent survey showed an increase in the number of respondents willing to keep their children under the Distance Learning model the rest of the school year. The district received 14,121 responses to the survey representing 70% of all student households. Out of all of the respondents, 6,137 (43.5%) preferred staying in Distance Learning.

Working to keep students with their same teachers at reopening is the largest hurdle under pandemic constraints when in-person and distance learning models run concurrently, the survey results confirmed.

The district met last night after the printing of The Friday Flyer to discuss the reopening plans. It appeared reopening was not happening right away anyway, so anticipating dropping back into the Red Tier may be part of the district’s timeline plans.

County health officials have stated that when all precautions are adhered to, individuals can protect themselves up to 95% from the virus. The city is encouraging its residents to stay safe.

“So that we can move to less restrictive tiers as quickly as possible,” Chris said, “the city is asking residents to continue to wear face coverings, to avoid social gatherings and mixing of households, to keep six feet of distance from others and to wash hands frequently.”