A new, steady approach
Gov. Newsom lays out new plan to reopen California while keeping COVID-19 in check
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a new plan on Friday to rekindle a California economy decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic, a four-tier system in which counties must show consistent success in stemming the transmission of the coronavirus before allowing businesses greater flexibility to reopen and group activities to resume.
In doing so, Newsom appears to be taking a far more cautious approach than his first effort in the spring, when his decision to rapidly ease restrictions led to such a major surge in cases that it forced another statewide shutdown.
“We’re going to be more stubborn this time,” Newsom said during a news conference Friday in Sacramento. “This (is a) more stringent, but we believe more steady approach.”
For most of California, the new rules won’t result in many immediate changes, since restaurant dining, religious services, gyms and fitness centers, movies theaters and museums will remain restricted to outdoors only in the vast majority of counties in the state.
But beginning on Monday, hair salons and barbershops can open statewide, including indoors if they adhere to requirements for social distancing, and employees wear masks and follow other health-related mandates. All retail stores and shopping malls also are permitted to open at a maximum of 25% capacity, state officials said.
Counties will be allowed to ease restrictions in progressive stages, slowly granting Californians the everyday freedoms they enjoyed before the outbreak if virus transmission wanes in their counties. Unlike last time, the governor said the decision to grant counties the ability to open businesses will be based entirely on data showing the spread of the virus among residents.
The criteria for each tier will be uniform for all 58 counties in California, and the vast majority of counties — including all Southern California counties except San Diego — will begin in the first and most restrictive tier.
• Tier 1, widespread transmission: Most non-essential businesses must be closed. Counties in this tier have more than seven new COVID cases per 100,000 people per day and a coronavirus test positivity rate of 8% and above. San Joaquin County is currently in this tier.
• Tier 2, substantial transmission: Some non-essential indoor businesses remain closed. Counties in this tier have between four to seven COVID cases per 100,000 people
per day and a coronavirus test positivity rate of between 5%-8%.
• Tier 3, moderate transmission: Some businesses can open with modifications. Counties in this tier have 1-3.9 new COVID cases per 100,000 people per day and a coronavirus positivity rate of 2%-4.9%.
• Tier 4, minimal transmission: Most businesses can reopen, with modifications. Counties in this tier have less than one new COVID case per 100,000 people per day and a coronavirus positivity rate of less than 2%.
For example, restaurants in counties in Tier 1 will be allowed only to serve customers outdoors. Once a county moves into Tier 2, restaurants can serve customers indoors, but only at 25% capacity. At Tier 3, 50% capacity and at Tier 4 full capacity, as long as social distancing and other safeguards are in place.
San Joaquin County is currently in Tier 1, county officials said in a press release on Friday. The county’s current case rate is 16.9 per 100,000 residents per day.
The reopening rules require counties to wait at least 21 days before moving to the next reopening tier.
That means the earliest the county could move into Tier 2 would be Sept. 22.
If a county has met reopening metrics for the next stage for at least two continuous weeks, it will be allowed to progress to the next stage when the 21day wait period expires. Otherwise it will be required to remain in place until it meets the benchmarks for the next tier for two straight weeks. Counties that fail to meet the metrics for their current tier for two consecutive weeks will be required to move to a more restrictive tier, according to the governor’s office.
At this time, the county’s Public Health Order has not changed. This means schools, bars, breweries, pubs where no meals are served, concert venues, festivals, piercing and tattoo shops, saunas and steam rooms must remain closed. Other businesses, while open, are limited to operating outdoors or under restrictions.
The governor’s office said the metrics will be reported as seven-day averages calculated every Tuesday but will be based on data from a full week earlier to give counties time to provide up-to-date information.
“I like this new framework because of the clear guidance on which and when each business sector is able to reopen,” said Orange County Health Care Agency Director Dr. Clayton Chau.
Chau said he has asked the state to clarify how the new system will affect efforts to resume in-person education.
Newsom’s decision to replace his original reopening plan from the spring comes after he faced criticism for allowing counties to reopen too quickly.
That plan, which was announced in May, relied on local officials to attest to their own readiness to reopen. But instead of requiring counties to meet the benchmarks outlined in his plan, Newsom permitted dozens of counties to move forward as long as local officials said they could increase testing capacity or train more contact tracers in the weeks and months after businesses opened their doors again.
The virus surged, counties weren’t prepared to conduct the necessary case investigation and contact tracing, and California and other states around the country experienced a massive testing shortage.
“It collapsed the effectiveness of our efforts to kill the virus,” state Democratic state Sen. Steve Glazer of Orinda said of the governor’s deferral to counties during the first reopening. “It’s too easy for local officials to acquiesce to the allure of making choices that people like and avoiding the anger that comes from telling people things they can’t do.”