Why SFDK is not affected by governor's order

On June 25th, SFDK announced the Marine World Experience to begin on July 2nd, effectively transforming the hybrid zoo-theme park into a pure zoo. This all seemed above board since zoos are allowed to be open under Solano County's reopening plans. That is until last Wednesday when Gavin Newsom, the governor of CA, had a press conference laying out new guidelines and reclosures in response to rising COVID levels in the state. The stories that ran in the majority of local news sources had headlines like the following: "19 California counties must close restaurants, zoos, movie theaters, and more immediately due to COVID-19".

These types of headlines immediately made me suspicious and doubtful of whether the park would open at all the next day. Since I was scheduled to go, I pored over the park's socials and emails and found no communication regarding the order and how it might affect the park, although I did find others asking the same question I did. I decided to drive up regardless and see how it played out. Well obviously it worked out fine and I got home wondering why this order that seemingly should have, didn't affect the park.

The next day, Screamscape put out a call asking for reports from the park and explanations of why the park wasn't affected by the governor's order. I was able to answer Lance's call for a report of the day but struggled to explain why SFDK could remain open. That is, until I looked at the text of the order itself:

Given current rates of disease transmission in some counties and the need to reduce gatherings
where mixing with individuals outside of one's household and disease spread occur, CDPH is
requiring closure, within counties on the county monitoring list for three or more consecutive
days, of indoor operations, while allowing outdoor operations with appropriate modifications,
including physical distancing and face coverings, for the following sectors:

...

• Zoos and Museums

Emphasis added is mine

As you can see, despite what some headlines say (Disclaimer: in some of the news reports, the indoor vs outdoor distinction is explained but the headlines do a poor job communicating), outdoor zoos are allowed to remain open assuming that they implement appropriate social distancing and mask measures, which SFDK does.

If you were wondering if SFDK will remain open despite the governor's order, wonder no more, it's safe and a lot of fun. Make sure to check it out if you can and support our local parks!