Nonessential businesses still open in Stanislaus amid pandemic could face fines
About 150 reports of nonessential businesses still operating around Stanislaus County were received by the Office of Emergency Services within a matter of days. Monday, cities and the county are expected to begin issuing cease-and-desist letters.
The office last week set up the email HSA-COVID-19info@schsa.org and asked people to report businesses that remain open and serve customers in disregard of a statewide order to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The county and its cities are each responsible for carrying out enforcement in their own jurisdictions, but they will all use a similar cease-and-desist letter that states, “Any person who refuses or willfully neglects to comply with an emergency order is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and/or imprisonment.”
The letter posted on social media by the Stanislaus County Office of Emergency services demanded compliance by April 2.
“I am not arresting people over this, but enforcement and arrest are not synonymous,” said Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse. “It is our fervent hope that everyone understands that they need to close for the good of the community. ... I understand it could put some of them out of business, which is why we don’t want to add to their challenges with some kind of punitive fine.”
Jurisdictions took the first step last week of using social media to ask the businesses to close voluntarily before the orders come.
Royjindar Singh, spokesman for OES, said there were many duplicate businesses identified in the 150 emails. Pared down, there were 75 businesses reported, but half of those were determined to be essential.
Authorities said people have reported businesses of all kinds, including hobby and crafts stores, flea markets, wineries, churches and an auto dealership, which Dirkse said had the most duplicate reports: 14.
But jurisdictions are focusing only on the four types of businesses the governor’s order explicitly defines as nonessential: dine-in restaurants, bars and nightclubs, hair and nail salons, and gyms.
The Bee called more than a dozen businesses on the OES list Sunday. No one answered or returned calls at the majority of them. A woman at a Modesto Mexican restaurant said they stopped doing dine-in last week, the voicemail at a Waterford gym said they are now closed, and the manager of a hair salon in Turlock said they closed Wednesday when their customer volume dwindled to six from its pre-corornavirus average of 30 to 40.
The salon manager, who asked not to be named, said he believes hair salons should be considered essential because good grooming promotes good hygiene.
Dirkse said unless the governor issues another order adding additional businesses to the nonessential list, his department will not be caught up in the ambiguity of what is considered an essential business.
The flea markets for example, which sells many items that could be considered nonessential, also sells food, much like the Farmers Markets. “A lot of folks that live in south Modesto buy a lot of their food at those markets,” Dirkse said. “What some people think shouldn’t be open, for someone else is clearly essential.”
In Modesto, about 20 businesses in the four nonessential categories have been identified — mostly bars and restaurants still offering dine-in service, said Modesto Police Department Chief Galen Carroll.
The Sheriff’s Department began making calls and sending emails to businesses on its list last week, but Carroll said he wanted officers contacting owners to have the letter in hand in case they face any pushback.
