Public health orders requiring Riverside County residents to cover their faces in public and maintain social distancing to fight the novel coronavirus’s spread will be extended to June 19, officials said Wednesday, April 29.

While the county is coordinating with the state and will reevaluate the orders as needed, “for the immediate future … this will be the new normal in Riverside County,” Dr. Cameron Kaiser, the county’s public health officer, said at an afternoon news conference.

A ban on gatherings outside the home will expire Thursday, April 30, and starting Friday, May 1, the county will fall solely under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide stay-at-home order issued March 19. The governor’s order states that all Californians must stay home unless they’re engaged in an essential business or activity, such as going to the grocery store or visiting a doctor.

Kaiser issued the orders in March and early April to slow the spread of the virus, which has led to 143 deaths and more than 3,900 infections in the county as of Wednesday. Riverside County residents don’t need hospital-grade masks, but the order calls for covering noses and mouths in public to prevent the spread of virus-laden droplets from infected people.

Orders closing schools and restricting short-term rentals remain in effect until June 19.

As updated projections show fewer cases and deaths in the county of roughly 2.4 million, Kaiser allowed golf courses to reopen subject to certain conditions. Restrictions on private swimming pools in hotels, motels, apartment complexes and the like were eased last week to allow one swimmer in a pool at a time.

Residents also are allowed to use trails and parks, for hiking, biking and riding horses, provided they practice social distancing by staying at least 6 feet apart.

Despite the eased restrictions, Kaiser warned Wednesday that “COVID-19 has not been eliminated, and it’s arguable whether we can even say it’s been suppressed.”

“We expect sporadic outbreaks throughout the summer. And since there will still be virus in circulation, there is a decent chance that it will be back in the fall, and when it is, it will be very hard to get that genie back in the bottle.”

Employers demanding employees test negative for the virus in order to return to work “is bad science and bad business,” Kaiser said. “I’d rather have a situation where people are doing the right thing so that employees don’t get sick in the first place.”

Noting the governor’s four-phase plan to reopen the state, Kaiser said: “A big part of what moves us the right way or the wrong way is what we all do … As we see improvements, we can make further accommodations to in those stricter local orders that we have as social responsibility rises to the occasion.”

He later added: “For all of you who have said that you want to take the personal responsibility to determine the risk to yourselves and act appropriately, now’s your chance.”

The county is working to establish COVID-19 testing sites in the San Jacinto Valley, the San Gorgonio Pass and Mecca, said Kim Saruwatari, county public health director.

“These are areas where we believe there is still a great need,” she said at the news conference.

The county has appointment-only, drive-thru, testing facilities in Riverside, Lake Elsinore, Perris, and Indio. Residents need an appointment to get tested at those sites, but they do not need to show virus symptoms. The number to call for an appointment is 800-945-6171.

More than 48,000 people in the county have been tested to date, including 28,700 at the drive-thru sites, Saruwatari said. The county is testing people at a higher rate than other large California counties.