The City of Palm Desert is requiring face coverings and social distancing in grocery and drug stores throughout the community in an effort to better protect public health.
The City Council order, approved by the Council as an urgency item at its May 14 meeting, better aligns Palm Desert with the majority of Coachella Valley cities and with directives from Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser. Under Dr. Kaiser’s April 4 public health order, face coverings and social distancing were required in Palm Desert and throughout Riverside County. That changed on May 8 when the County Board of Supervisors voted to rescind the face covering order. Since then, cities across the Coachella Valley have been reinstating face covering and social distancing orders in their communities to better protect their residents, workers, and visitors from COVID-19.
In addition to requiring face coverings at grocery and drug stores, Palm Desert’s order strongly encourages all businesses to require face coverings and social distancing on their premises and to post notices conspicuously so that everyone entering a business knows its face covering policy.
Palm Desert businesses are also strongly urged to follow the California Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 Industry Guidance available at covid19.ca.gov/industry-guidance regarding the use of face coverings for employees, customers, and clients.
“This order represents Palm Desert’s embrace of public health best practices and its commitment to do everything in the City’s power to facilitate the reopening of local businesses in accordance with State of California criteria for reopening,” said City Manager Lauri Aylaian.
Aylaian said that consistent with Palm Desert tradition, the City will focus on education more than enforcement to gain compliance.with the order.