Newsom Reveals Guidelines to Reopen Some Businesses

Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled specific guidelines businesses will have to follow if they want to reopen starting Friday.

Book stores, clothing stores, toy stores and florists, can reopen for curbside pickup starting Friday if they develop contactless payment procedures, have hand sanitizer available for employees and customers, ensure employees have proper protective gear, and ask employees to deliver goods to customers’ cars when possible.

The city’s Economic, Development and Technology Committee will review the guidelines today in a meeting at 3:15 p.m.

Manufacturing is also allowed to start back up again as long as workers can maintain physical distance and have access to face coverings and/or gloves.

Break rooms have to be closed and replaced with outdoor break areas with seats set up for social distancing.

The state is working on developing guidelines that will allow office buildings, dine-in restaurants, shopping malls and outdoor museums to reopen next. Gov. Newsom teased he’ll be releasing guidelines for dine-in restaurants next Tuesday, May 12.

All businesses that want to reopen will need to train employees on how to curb the spread of the disease, monitor themselves for symptoms and ask workers to stay home if they feel sick.

Moving forward, county officials can decide to move into Stage 2 of reopening at their own pace. But in order to move ahead, county public health officials will have to prove they meet the following criteria:

No more than one new COVID-19 case per 10,000 residents in the past 14 days

No COVID-19 deaths in the past 14 days

Essential workers must have access to PPE

A minimum of 1.5 tests per 100,000 residents being conducted daily

At least 15 contact tracers per 100,000 residents

Ability to temporarily house 15% of the county’s homeless population

Hospitals are equipped to handle a 35% surge at minimum

Nursing facilities have a two-week supply of PPE.

Continue to monitor metrics to potentially re-enact restrictions