All California beaches to be closed following weekend crowding, police memo says

It was estimated that around 40,000 people visited Newport Beach in California over the weekend

All of California’s beaches are set to be completely closed following images showing huge crowding of the spaces last weekend, according to a police memo.

The memo which was reportedly sent to California police chiefs states that governor Gavin Newsom will order all beaches to shut starting Friday.

“We wanted to give all of our members a heads up about this in order to provide time for you to plan for any situations you might expect as a result, knowing each community has its own dynamics,” the memo obtained by CNN allegedly read.

The move comes after images surfaced of beaches in Orange and Ventura counties showing thousands of people flocking to beaches and parks over the weekend to enjoy the hot weather.

It was estimated that around 40,000 people visited Newport Beach in California over the weekend.

While most of the state’s beaches have remained closed to help stem the spread of the virus, some counties have decided to leave beaches open with the implementation of social distancing measures.

The memo allegedly cited that the crowding on the beaches was part of the governor's decision to enforce closures.

On Monday the governor criticised those attending the beaches recreationally in his daily press briefing, warning that flouting the regulations could prolong the outbreak in the state.

“This virus doesn’t take the weekends off, this virus doesn’t go home because it’s a beautiful sunny day around our coasts,” Gov Newsom said.

Speaking of the images that surfaced of the crowding, he branded them as examples of "what not to do".

“Those images are an example of what not to see, people, what not to do if we're going to make the meaningful progress that we've made in the last few weeks extend into the next number of weeks," he said.

In the briefing, the governor implied that he wouldn’t be against taking further executive action to make sure that necessary measures were being taken to ensure adequate social distancing across the state.

“The only thing that will set us back is people stopping to practice physical distancing and appropriate social distancing. That’s the only thing that’s going to slow down our ability to reopen this economy,“ he warned.

A message to the governor’s office seeking comment was not immediately returned.

California has recorded over 46,000 cases of the novel coronavirus and more than 1,800 deaths as of Thursday.