Huntington Beach City Council to discuss ending COVID-19 local emergency

The Huntington Beach City Council will consider lifting the city’s COVID-19 local emergency declaration on Tuesday night.

Councilman Mike Posey introduced an item that would direct city staff to prepare the necessary paperwork to lift the declaration, which has been in place since March 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ended the restrictive tiers system for reopening on June 15, which in effect fully reopened the state’s economy. As Posey noted in his item, all business sectors have been allowed to return to large-scale operations, save for large-scale special events.

Locally, the city of Newport Beach terminated its local emergency declaration on June 22 after a City Council vote. Laguna Beach’s City Council voted in Tuesday’s meeting to continue its local state of emergency for up to 60 days.

Officials said that Orange County has reached its goal of 70% of adult residents receiving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. There were 74 daily positive cases reported Friday by the Orange County Health Care Agency, a number that has consistently been below 100 since April.

For those not in attendance, Tuesday’s Huntington Beach City Council meeting can be watched on channel HBTV-3 or online at huntingtonbeach.legistar.com. Residents may send comments on agenda items to supplementalcomm@surfcity-hb.org.

Communications received by 2 p.m. Tuesday will be distributed to the council prior to consideration of agenda-related items.

Residents are encouraged to submit comments during the meeting via Zoom, though in-person attendees will speak first. The Webinar ID is 971 5413 0528 and can be reached via the Zoom app or by calling (669) 900-6833 and entering the ID.

Individuals will be placed in a holding queue and prompted to speak when the city clerk announces their name or the last three digits of their phone number.

Time for remarks is limited to three minutes.

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