COUNTY TO EASE INTO REOPENING BUSINESSES
■ Governor’s requirements for faster restart set high bar for cities ■ Some local retailers are permitted to resume today with limits ■ State’s projected $54.3 billion deficit raises fears of deep cuts ■ County officials confirm 7 additional deaths, 110 more cases
As local leaders announced seven additional Covid-19-related deaths and 110 new cases Thursday, it was clear the region will not be able to enter a new business reopening fast lane now available to communities with low levels of novel coronavirus activity.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said during his daily briefing Thursday that an initial swath of designated retail establishments — those selling everything from books to sporting goods — will be able to begin making curbside sales and deliveries directly to their customers today, provided they meet a long list of social-distancing and sanitation requirements.
But the governor also added a twist, highlighting a kind of reopening turbo mode for places that can demonstrate they meet stringent criteria, including not having had a Covid-related death in the past two weeks, no more than one confirmed case per 10,000 residents in the previous 14 days and ample inventories of sanitation and worker protection supplies.
Given there has scarcely been a single
day without a Covid-related death since San Diego’s first occurred on March 21, and the area’s 3.3 million people would have to have no more than 330 cases in a span of 14 days to meet the prescribed maximum case totals, it’s clear that this is not an option for urban areas. County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said as much during the daily COVID briefing Thursday.
“Unfortunately, San Diego County does not, and will not in the foreseeable future, meet that criteria to move faster than the state of California,” Fletcher said.
Those able to meet the criteria now can apply for a special state variance that will open the way to access additional loosening of currently disallowed business activities, such as working in offices where telecommuting isn’t feasible, seated dining at restaurants, shopping in malls and strolling through “outdoor museums.”
Though some smaller counties likely will be able to pursue those long-awaited changes sooner rather than later, Newsom made it clear that his office intends to release guidelines for the entire state to take similar steps “soon.”
It’s clear, though, that novel coronavirus activity remains significant across the region. Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center and Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista, which have both reported significantly higher caseloads than facilities in other parts of the county, continue to grind through a taxing onslaught.
Sharp Chula Vista reported a total of 55 COVID patients Thursday, a number large enough to require the transfer of three patients to other Sharp hospitals in Kearny Mesa and La Mesa. So far, the facility has transferred a total of nine patients north since the coronavirus began generating larger patient numbers on the border.
Scripps Mercy Chula Vista has required even more help from its sister facilities up north, transferring a total of 25 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus infections so far, including two on Wednesday.
There has been much speculation about how and to what extent the raging COVID outbreak in Baja California is driving the patient numbers now being treated in the South Bay. Scripps said in an emailed statement Thursday that 39 percent of those who have passed through its Chula Vista emergency department in the last week reported recent travel to Mexico, compared to an average of just 5.6 percent for its other three acute care hospitals.
Homeless shelter to change location
Plans are under way to move a bridge shelter for the homeless in the city of San Diego’s Midway District to Chula Vista, mayors of the two cities announced Thursday.
Veterans Village of San Diego, a nonprofit that has operated the shelter in Midway, plans to place people experiencing homelessness in long-term housing using existing vouchers and to repurpose its capacity in its main campus to help accommodate those without shelter, officials said at the city of San Diego’s daily COVID-19 update Thursday afternoon.
Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas and Peter Seidler, general partner of the San Diego Padres and board member of the nonprofit Lucky Duck Foundation, joined San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer for the announcement.
Faulconer said he felt confident that Veterans Village would be able to continue housing people without the bridge shelter, and he looked forward to seeing the shelter help others, as it has helped San Diego.
“I’m excited to take this success and help replicate it across the county, starting in South Bay,” Faulconer said.
The shelter, established in 2017 on property owned by the U.S. Navy, has helped hundreds of veterans. It is owned by the Lucky Duck Foundation and has been on loan to the city of San Diego.
“To see the bridge shelter expand into Chula Vista, it really warms my heart,” Seidler said.
Salas said the Chula Vista City Council is expected to discuss accepting the shelter at its meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, officials said. The council is expected to vote on accepting the shelter, and setting aside funds for its operations and infrastructure, such as sewage and water for showers and toilets.
She said Chula Vista will consider a plan to partner with other cities in the South
Bay to establish a joint-shelter program.
Salas said the timeline for the opening of the bridge shelter in Chula Vista was uncertain because it involved a public approval process, but once the city gets the green light, it will try to get the shelter up and running as quickly as possible.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, San Diego has temporarily moved residents of its bridge shelters to the San Diego Convention Center, where there is space to meet social-distancing requirements and centralized resources to support residents.
The bridge shelters are temporary shelters that are intended to provide a bridge between life on the street and permanent housing.
Businesses must have plan in place
The governor’s stringent fast-lane requirements notwithstanding, there should be plenty of activity today as local businesses included in the state’s initial reopening criteria move forward. Those businesses include purveyors of books, jewelry, clothing, shoes, home furnishings, sporting goods, antiques and music. Florists are also in the mix, just in time for Mother’s Day.
It’s not OK, added Supervisor Greg Cox, to simply open on up this morning. All businesses on the governor’s list must first download and fill out a “safe reopening plan” available on the county’s website at sandiegocounty.gov.
The plan must be shared with all employees and printed and posted at the front of each business prior to reopening. It specifies a wide range of measures that must be taken, including daily temperature checks and masks for workers if they are within 6 feet of others, separation of work stations by at least 6 feet, regular sanitation of break rooms, bathrooms and other common areas, signs and other markings telling customers to stay 6 feet apart and making it easy for them to see how far that is, and use of appointment systems.
Cox noted that businesses that don’t comply could be forced to closed, though he said he hopes it doesn’t come to that.
“We don’t want to resort to enforcement, so let’s all work together,” Cox said.
The seven deaths announced Thursday, which brought the overall total to 165, ranged in age from 52 to 89. All but one, a 52-year-old man of Latino heritage from coastal North County who died on April 28, had other underlying health conditions.
paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com morgan.cook@sduniontribune.com