Newsom unveils rules for reopening businesses
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new coronavirus safeguards and protocols for retail stores and workplaces eligible to reopen Friday and in the weeks ahead, marking the beginning of California’s gradual easing of the stay-at-home order and attempt to rekindle a state economy ravaged by the COVID19 pandemic.
Under the plan, in-restaurant dining, car washes, shopping malls and some office buildings could also be allowed to reopen in coming weeks if public health officials in a county are able to demonstrate that the spread of the coronavirus has stabilized there. County officials must prove to the state that they have adequate testing and hospital capacity and the ability to isolate people with the virus, and trace who they have contacted.
Newsom said earlier this week that bookstores, music stores, toy stores, florists, sporting goods retailers, clothing stores and others can reopen for curbside pickup as early as Friday, unless barred by tougher local restrictions. Manufacturers and suppliers that provide goods for those businesses also will be allowed to resume operating.
The state is recommending that retailers continue to encourage physical distancing and implement “hands-free” ways for customers to pay. Manufacturers should close indoor break areas, and warehouses should carry sanitation materials during deliveries and provide employees with personal protective gear, said Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s secretary of Health and Human Services.
“We’re moving forward but we’re doing it, always, with an eye being led by the data, by the science, by public health,” Newsom said during his daily COVID-19 briefing in Sacramento.
Before reopening, all retail business are required to create a plan to protect employees and customers, train employees on how to limit the spread of COVID-19, have measures in place to screen for employees who may be ill and implement disinfecting and social distancing policies.
To stem the spread of the coronavirus, which has been blamed for more than 75,000 deaths nationwide, including more than 2,500 in California, Newsom on March 19 signed an executive order requiring the state’s 40 million residents to remain in their homes unless they were classified as essential workers. That came after Californians were urged to avoid mass gatherings and school districts began closing.
The economic toll has been devastating. The state has processed more than 4.2 million unemployment claims since mid-March, when businesses began closing their doors and laying off employees. Newsom’s finance advisers predict the state unemployment rate will hit 18% in 2020.
Nationwide, approximately 33.5 million people have applied for jobless assistance since mid-March.
The Newsom administration, which estimated a state budget surplus of $6 billion in January, now expects one of the largest budget shortfalls in California history.
Newsom’s budget team forecasts a $41.2-billion drop in tax revenue compared to their estimates from just four months ago, with state revenues from personal income taxes, sales taxes and corporate taxes — the state’s main sources of revenue — plummeting by roughly 25%.
The economic impact of the pandemic has put increased pressure on Newsom to begin reopening California and ease his stay-athome order, and led to some communities in rural Northern California to openly defy the restrictions by allowing businesses to reopen to customers this week, including hair salons, barber shops, gyms and restaurants.
Newsom last week laid out a four-stage plan to gradually transition the state back to normal.
His plan expands the authority of some county officials to relax restrictions even further and open more businesses, such as restaurant dining rooms, on a case-by-case basis, a decision to be made in part on the prevalence of the virus in a community. To do so, however, counties must first submit “containment plans” that meet certain requirements for hospital beds, testing kits and the ability to track infected people and trace their contacts.
Ghaly laid out strict requirements for counties that want to move ahead of the state and into the second phase of the plan.
Before implementing those changes, counties cannot have any COVID-19 deaths in the previous two weeks, a high bar that appears to apply equally to counties such as Modoc, with a population of 10,000, as it would to Los Angeles County, home to roughly 10 million. Counties are also barred from moving forward if they have more than one coronavirus case per 10,000 residents.
Hospitals will need to prepare for a 35% surge in patients and adopt plans to protect their workers, Ghaly said. Among other requirements, counties must have at least 15 contact tracers per 100,000 residents to locate and potentially require people to quarantine if they came into contact with infected residents.
Ghaly described the guidelines at the governor’s daily news conference. They include more directives for auto dealers, the construction industry, hotels and other sectors of the economy.
“We know that we’re going to gradually reopen California only as we can reduce the risk to all Californians from contracting COVID-19,” Ghaly said.
Still, the state did not provide a detailed description of the specific businesses and activities allowed to reopen Friday or what may be permitted in the weeks ahead.
Some local officials have pleaded with Newsom to allow them to accelerate efforts to lift the stay-at-home restrictions. In San Luis Obispo County, for instance, a bipartisan group of mayors and other political representatives asked Newsom in a letter to allow the county to begin a “science-based, thoughtfully phased reopening of our economy.”
GOP Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham said the governor’s promise to give counties more discretion in easing restrictions appears to be such an onerous process that most areas — including San Luis Obispo, which he represents — will not qualify even if they have seen a stabilization or dramatic decline in COVID19 hospitalizations and deaths.