Orange County, Calif. had to walk back a stringent health order it issued Tuesday afternoon after it caused widespread confusion in the business community.
Originally, the order said that only essential services such as grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants offering takeout or drive through options, and banks were allowed to stay open.
Tuesday night, Orange County issued a clarification saying businesses could remain open but had to practice social distancing. The order does require bars to close, and restaurants to only sell food to go or for delivery.
That means for now, industry stores in Orange County can remain open.
Before the clarification was issued, brands were scrambling late Tuesday to get clarity around the new restrictions.
Nearly every brand executive we talked to was not having any luck getting more information from the county on the issue, and some had gotten conflicting information.
Also Tuesday afternoon, important industry customer Tilly’s announced it is closing all of its 239 stores until at least March 27, joining a long list of other retailers and brands that are closing stores.
Here’s the press release the county put out to clarify the previous order:
County of Orange Press Release
