Officials in Riverside County, which includes Palm Springs, Joshua Tree and other desert communities, have issued new orders that temporarily ban short-term rentals, unless guests are part of COVID-19 response efforts.
Hotels, motels and businesses such as Airbnb can allow essential workers, such as medical supply delivery drivers, to rent rooms. They can also be used for sheltering the homeless and to provide beds for people in isolation or quarantine.
“We're trying to avoid people coming here for vacation or to get away from the city,” said Jose Arballo, a spokesperson for Riverside County’s Department of Public Health. “We were hearing that some of our vacation spot renters were not going to obey our orders, so we got more specific.”
Arballo says if owners of short-term rentals fail to obey the order, the county will take further action through the courts.
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