California city bans public sitting, removes seats from public property in attempt to battle COVID-19 spike

The city of Manhattan Beach, California, is really worried about a recent spike in COVID-19 cases.

In fact, city fathers are so worried that they have issued a new edict for their subjects: No sitting on public property.

That's right: Residents will no longer be permitted to use the city's seating on publicly owned lands — the officials had all of the seats removed this weekend, the New York Post reported Sunday night.

What are they doing?

The coastal city, located about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles and inside L.A. County, saw its number of confirmed COVID-19 cases nearly double over the last two months.

According to the Manhattan Beach Twitter feed, the city had 425 cases on Nov. 1. As of last Saturday, the city had 821 cases. And the daily number of new cases set record highs on Dec. 31 (21 cases) and Jan. 1 (26 cases).

So city officials decided it was time to take action. That action came in the form of a sitting ban.

Image source: Twitter/Manhattan Beach City

As of 10 p.m. Sunday night, all outdoor seating on public property was closed to the public. The tables and chairs were removed until further notice.

Image source: Twitter/Manhattan Beach City

Mayor Suzanne Hadley said in the tweeted statement from the city, that people should stay home — except to go to work, pick up "essentials," or exercise.

There was no word from the city on where people outside exercising might sit and rest if they need a break.

But officials who have helped cripple local businesses with their restrictions were quick to encourage citizens — whom they simultaneously told to stay home — to go out and support "our local businesses that are offering pick-up, curbside, take-out, and delivery services."

More from the mayor:

We must continue to respond to the ever-changing dynamics of this pandemic. We are asking residents to stay home if possible, and mainly go out for work and essentials, or to exercise outdoors.

This recent spike in the virus is significant, despite the good news last month of our Manhattan Beach firefighters receiving some of the first COVID-19 vaccinations. Although public seating areas will be closed temporarily, please continue supporting our local businesses that offer pick-up, curbside, take-out, and delivery services.

Image source: Twitter/Manhattan Beach City

(H/T: HotAir)