Governor Gavin Newsom announced a potential stay at home order Thursday and local residents may once again be asked to stay at home as much as possible.
The stay at home order issued from the state will shut down regions if they have fewer than 15% of their ICU hospital beds open.
According to San Luis Obispo County Public Health Officer, Dr. Borenstein, stay at home closures will include things like indoor and outdoor playgrounds, indoor recreational facilities, hair salons and barber shops and other personal care services.
Nail services, massage centers, wineries, breweries, aquariums, museums, zoos and entertainment centers are also on the list of places that will close.
Retail stores will be allowed to stay open at a 20% capacity, which differs from the last stay at home order in March.
San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties are being grouped in with the Southern California region which includes counties like Los Angeles and San Diego.
Morro Bay resident Heather Sanders feels the Central Coast should be set apart as its own region so it is not lumped together with areas that have a higher COVID count.
With many businesses putting in additional funds to create outdoor dining spaces, restaurant owners are feeling the weight of the state's decision.
Steve Bland, Co-owner of Slo Provisions, says he feels his restaurant has gone the extra mile to comply with regulations and the order is another blow to small business, but he plans to comply.
"We also want to be good community members and citizens and do the right thing, so we are certainly going to comply with the conditions and move forward as we can," he says.
Others say they hope their compliance will lead to better outcomes.
"We want this to stop so if everyone just follows procedure and do what they have to do, then everything will go back to normal hopefully," says SLO County resident Tamara Padron.
County officials are also concerned about being grouped in with the larger Southern California region.
San Luis Obispo County Emergency Services Director, Wade Hornton, says, "The fact that we are grouped with all of Southern California doesn't make a lot of sense to me." He continues, "If you are a small business looking and facing the question of going out of business or complying, I think it is a very difficult position to be in, particularly when you look that we have one COVID patient in the ICU in SLO County."
State leaders say the Southern California region could hit the 15% ICU bed rate as soon as Friday.