California could let some restaurants offer dine-in meals in a week or so. Here’s how
California counties could soon be allowed to reopen restaurants for inside dining and other later Phase 2 businesses, if they are able to meet a series of criteria laid out by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of Health and Human Services, explained how counties can achieve these variances from the current phase of reopening, which is limited to retail, logistics and manufacturing, with a series of slides during Newsom’s daily coronavirus press conference.
In order to move ahead, counties must:
▪ have no more than one new case of coronavirus per 10,000 people in the last two weeks.
▪ have no COVID-19-related deaths in the last two weeks.
▪ have a minimum daily testing capacity of 1.5 per 1,000 residents.
▪ be able to provide support to essential workers who become sick or exposed to the coronavirus.
▪ have the availability of disinfectant and personal protective equipment for essential workers.
▪ have at least 15 contact tracers per 100,000 residents.
▪ have the ability to house at least 15 percent of homeless residents.
In addition, counties must have:
▪ either county- or regional-level capacity to accommodate a minimum surge of 35 percent.
▪ a robust plan to protect their hospital workforce.
▪ more than two weeks’ supply of personal protective equipment on-hand for skilled nursing facilities.
▪ metrics in place that can serve as triggers for slowing the pace of reopening or tightening modifications.
Newsom said that further guidelines on how counties can achieve these variances will be released next Tuesday.
Some businesses and entities will continue to remain closed for the time being, including hair and nail salons, movie theaters, churches and sporting events.
The governor said that when it comes to determining what can open up sooner, rather than later, his office is “looking at low risk, high reward, low risk, low reward” as well as a series of criteria and conditions, including best practices from other states.
Newsom spoke specifically to nail salons.
“This whole thing started in the state of California, the first community spread, in a nail salon. I just want to remind you, remind everybody of that. I’m very worried about that,” he said.
It was not immediate clear which case Newsom was referring to as the first community transmission infection and the governor’s office declined to provide more information.
It had been previously reported that the first community spread of coronavirus in the United States occurred in Solano County, where a woman was infected and later treated at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. That woman was hospitalized around Feb. 25.
However, it was later reported that a Santa Clara woman who died at her home Feb. 6 was the first victim of the virus and that she likely contracted the illness through community transmission.
Newsom also spoke to the fact that churches are in a later phase of his reopening plan.
“Our fear is simply this: Congregations of people mixing from far and wide, coming together, proximate in an enclosed space at large scales is a point of obvious concern and anxiety,” he said.
Newsom said he is working on guidelines for churches and working with faith leaders on the possibility of them being able to open up earlier.
“Again, none of this is etched in stone,” he said.
Newsom on Thursday also announced the release of guidelines for several industries on how they can go about reopening. That included basic requirements, such as facilities training employees on how to limit the spread of COVID-19, as well as industry-specific guidance.
Among the industries to get specific guidance was the car dealership industry.
“Car dealers were able to open up, but now they’ll have the guidelines they were looking for, so I think you’ll see more activity in that space,” Newsom said.
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 2:28 PM with the headline "California could let some restaurants offer dine-in meals in a week or so. Here’s how."