Los Angeles County announced that it is closing its beaches during the Fourth of July holiday weekend in hopes of preventing large gatherings that could spread COVID-19.

Mayor Robert Garcia tweeted late Monday that Long Beach would take similar action, saying that “we need to focus on safety.”

Long Beach’s closure also includes piers, beach parking lots (except for permit holders), beach access ways, bathrooms and beach bike and pedestrian paths.

The closures will be in effect from Friday at 12:01 a.m. to Monday at 5:01 a.m.

Health officials had dire warnings for the public on Monday: As more people are out and about, the number of positive cases has risen sharply, and not enough businesses and individuals are complying with health orders.

“We’ve seen examples of overcrowding at our beaches and some of our public spaces and again noticed that people are not wearing their face coverings and not physical distancing,” Barbara Ferrer, director of the county Department of Public Health, said Monday.

She also said she’s gotten an “explosion” of new outbreaks in workplaces that are being operated without health protocols.

Ferrer said the latest dire statistics—the county broke a single day record Monday for the most number of cases—have led to a “tenuous moment” in the pandemic, and with the Fourth of July holiday weekend approaching, people need to avoid the temptation to act as if the coronavirus is gone.

“This is going to be a different summer,” she said. “This is going to be a different July Fourth.”

Supervisor Janice Hahn saying via Twitter, “We cannot risk having crowds at the beach this holiday weekend.”