Modoc County in rural Northern California has allowed businesses to reopen, bucking the governorâs stay-at-home order. The stateâs shelter-in-place advisory warns residents to stay inside their homes and orders most businesses to close, but Modoc officials allowed hair salons, churches, restaurants and the countyâs single movie theater to resume operations at half capacity on Friday. The county has recorded no cases of COVID-19 among its 9,000 residents. âOur residents were moving forward with or without us,â Heather Hardwick, Modocâs deputy director of emergency services, told ABC. California governor Gavin Newsom has yet to address the defiance. Modoc isnât the only California locale to face opposition to the stateâs anti-coronavirus measures: protesters gathered at Huntington Beach in Southern California Friday to advocate for a reopening of the stateâs beaches.
