California gov issues ‘hard close’ to Orange County beaches

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday said he ordered beaches in Orange County to close, after crowds defied public health guidelines to throng the popular shoreline last weekend.

Officials in the U.S. state's Orange and Ventura Counties had allowed access to their beaches last weekend, prompting families and groups to head to the ocean.

The crowds on the beaches put at risk California's progress in slowing the advance of the novel coronavirus, Newsom said.

Newsom on Thursday said, "We're going to do a hard close in that part of the state, just in the Orange County area." The announcement came after a memo was sent on Wednesday by the governor's office to California's police chiefs to plan ahead for beach closures.

"After the well-publicized media coverage of overcrowded beaches this past weekend, in violation of Governor Newsom's Shelter in Place Order, the Governor will be announcing tomorrow that ALL beaches and all state parks in California will be closed, effective Friday, May 1st," the memo read.

But Newsom, on Thursday said: "Bottom line, that was their memo.

That memo never got to me."