California Governor Gavin Newsom Eases Reopening Rules
California Governor Gavin Newsom Providing Monday’s Briefing from a Napa Restaurant
During Monday’s noon briefing, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he was loosening county guidelines for re-opening. Two weeks after stating that a county could not consider easing their Stay at Home orders until they could report that there were no COVID-related deaths for two weeks, Newsom has now laid out new and less restrictive guidelines.
Phase II Guidelines for Counties
The guidelines a county must meet before they apply to the state to move into re-opening phase are as follows:
- A county must prove that their hospitalization rates are stable and that the number of coronavirus patients has not increased by more than 5% over the past 7 days;
- A county must not have more than 20 coronavirus patients in one day for at least two weeks; and
- A county must not have more than 25 coronavirus positive cases per 100,000 residents for at least 14 days.
Once a county can prove they meet the above criteria, businesses like restaurants can open for dine-in, and retail, can open for in-store shopping with modifications, along with outdoor museums and schools.
Phase III Businesses
Phase III includes the re-opening of “higher risk businesses.”
According to Newsom, we are “weeks, not months” away from seeing the re-opening of hair salons, sporting events without spectators, and small church gatherings.
Newsom also stated that he could allow for in-store retail on a state-wide basis as early as June.
Re-opening is County to County Basis
Newsom continued to remind the public that the re-opening phases will continue to be treated on a county-to-county basis. Some counties, such as those in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, are expected to be further behind other counties in moving forward in the phases.
California as a state has made significant progress since the Stay at Home orders first began in mid-March. California has seen a 7.5% decline in hospitalizations and an 8.7% decline in the number of intensive care patients.
