COUNTY STANDS FIRM ON PHASED REOPENING
Some local leaders press for a faster restarting of businesses Supervisor says county awaiting more direction from Newsom Local officials expect to hit goal of more than 5,000 daily tests County confirms 8 additional deaths, 159 more positive cases
some people calling for a faster reopening of businesses and others urging caution about moving too quickly, county health officials say they are sticking with a plan to begin a slow and phased reopening of some retailers Friday.
San Diego County officials also said Wednesday that they expect to hit a goal of more than 5,000 daily tests for the coronavirus in the near future, and glitches that appeared in three new state-funded testing sites appear to have been worked out after their launch Tuesday.
“We do feel many of the kinks that were present in yesterday’s efforts around the state testing facilities, these being the ones in Chula Vista, El Cajon and Escondido, are being worked out,” Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said during a daily afternoon news briefing on the COVID-19 outbreak. “It appears that the testing at these three sites went much smoother today and we expect to see much bigger numbers in terms of the reporting that’s being done.”
Publicly funded COVID-19 testing had been reserved only for people who had been referred by a medical professional, but the three new sites are open to anyone who makes a reservation. On their first day, the sites reportedly did not reach their capacity of 800, and people using the faciliwith
ties said there were delays and they had problems with the website and scheduling.
Fletcher said county residents have been eager to sign up for the tests through a website or phone line, and all appointment slots had been filled through the end of the week.
Appointments can be made online at lhi.care/ covidtesting or by calling (888) 634-1123.
Fletcher also reported that the county had conducted 2,260 tests in a single day, with a total of 65,737 tested overall.
County Public Health Officer Dr. Wilma Wooten said the daily number of tests is significant because the governor had set a goal of having 25,000 tests conducted statewide each day, and San Diego County was responsible for 2,100 of those. The tests are among guidelines Gov. Gavin Newsom has identified for counties moving into a reopening phase.
The county slowly has been increasing the number of tests conducted daily, and has a local goal of increasing it to 5,168 a day. Wooten said she expected the goal to be reached within weeks.
The county also is behind its goal of tracers, or individuals who investigate how the virus has spread. So far, it has 161 tracers who have performed 5,224 investigations, and the county hopes to expand its number of tracers to 450.
Wooten reported that the number of deaths among county residents had increased to 158 with the addition of eight more losses since Tuesday’s report. The deaths include three women and five men between the ages of 45 and 87. All but one had existing medical conditions.
The number of county residents who have tested positive for the coronavirus increased by 159 Wednesday, with 4,319 countywide cases in all.
About 7 percent of the most recent tests came back positive, on average about the same as the past two weeks.
Fletcher on Wednesday also responded to a call for a faster reopening by saying a too-hasty move could lead to a second wave of the outbreak.
Earlier in the day, San Diego City Councilman Scott Sherman, El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells and San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones held a news conference to urge the county to move immediately forward with reopening businesses. The county is waiting for more direction from Newsom on how to reopen businesses, which is expected to begin Friday with the start of a new phase in the state’s response to the outbreak.
“San Diegans have sacrificed much to flatten the curve and many are now struggling,” Sherman said, referring to the fact that there has not been a surge of patients in the local hospital system. “Our region has shown that we can act responsibly. I urge the County Board of Supervisors to begin immediate work so our region can move more quickly through phase two and open more businesses.”
The elected officials noted that economists have suggested that the unemployment rate could be more than 20 percent in San Diego County.
“The only way to get our region back to work is through our small businesses,” Jones said. “Ninetyeight percent of businesses in our region are small businesses. It’s only right that small business owners who can open responsibly be given the same opportunities as big box corporations.”
“I appreciate the strong efforts of the governor to flatten the curve of this dangerous virus,” Wells said. “But now is the time to give local governments more control to safely open up our economy.”
The mayors were joined by East County Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Rick Wilson and Phil Pace, founder of Phil’s BBQ.
Fletcher said the fact that the curve had been flattened was not a sign that the crisis was over, but rather an indication that the county’s response had worked.
“The integrity of our health system remains at risk if we don’t do this responsibly, if we don’t do it in the right order and if we don’t do it in the right way,” he said.
County officials at the news briefing also responded to calls for a slower response in light of a growing number of cases in the South Bay and just over the border.
A reporter noted that elected officials and a hospital head in South Bay said they would like to see a more downward trend in cases in their area before restrictions are eased, and Wooten was asked if she thought loosening restrictions now could put more people at risk.
She responded that the county looks for trends in the entire area to make health decisions, just as it does when declaring when f lu season is over. When asked a similar question from a reporter in Julian if the county would consider reopening specific areas first, she again said such decisions are made to cover the entire county.
Also on Wednesday, Supervisor Greg Cox said local retailers could find some help in preparing to reopen their shops Friday with an online template that has a checklist of what they must do to meet guidelines.
Supervisors on Tuesday approved a framework to reopen.
“We’ll be following the governor’s guidelines, but this framework we approved does give our local businesses a head start, and a template they can fill out to plan for their safe reopening,” he said.
Business owners do not have to submit their plans to the county at this time, but Cox said they should check back to the county’s website on Friday for more information.
The guidelines include mandatory requirements such as signage and sanitation protocols, and the template can be found online at www.coronavirus-sd.com.