California To Ease Restrictions This Week, Move To 'Stage 2'

CALIFORNIA — California will move into the first new stage of its reopening plan at the end of this week, and some retail businesses will be allowed to open back up for customers as early as Friday — assuming they comply with new health guidelines, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday.

The state has made enough progress in its efforts to contain, trace and test for the new coronavirus to allow retailers to reopen for curbside pickup, Newsom said. The businesses able to reopen this week include clothing stores, bookstores, music and toy stores, sporting goods stores and florists — which will be able to open in time for Mother’s Day on Sunday, the governor pointed out.

Manufacturers and other logistical companies that make up retail supply chains will also be able to reopen, he said. On Thursday, the state will announce guidelines that the reopened businesses must follow to ensure social distancing. In the past, Newsom has said those requirements may include temperature checks at the door and fewer tables inside.

Monday’s announcement means that the state will enter Stage 2 of its gradual, four-part reopening plan, which Newsom laid out last week. The timeline for moving into each stage would depend on the state’s ability to ramp up testing, begin widespread contact tracing and protect vulnerable residents, Newsom said.

Offices, shopping malls and dine-in restaurants will not be permitted to open this week, even though they were included in Stage 2 of the initial reopening plan, Dr. Sonia Angell, the state’s health officer, said at Monday afternoon’s news conference announcing the lifted restrictions.

“It’s really a thrill to be here at this time, talking about this positive movement forward,” Angell said.

Meanwhile, counties that have experienced less-severe outbreaks of the COVID-19 virus can now develop their own containment plans in which they can move further into Stage 2, Newsom said Monday. Those plans, which could allow restaurants and other hospitality venues to reopen, must be certified by the local health officer and county supervisors, he said.

On the other hand, regions such as the Bay Area, which have stricter stay-home rules than the statewide order, are free to keep the stricter limits in place, Newsom said. It was not immediately clear Monday whether those counties planned to ease restrictions to match the state order.

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The remaining steps in the state reopening plan include Stage 3, which would allow the reopening of "higher risk" workplaces that require person-to-person contact. That includes personal care businesses such as gyms and hair salons; churches, weddings and other religious services; and entertainment venues such as theaters and sports without audiences.

A fourth and final stage — in which the state lifts its stay-home order and allows high-risk places such as concert venues, live sports and convention centers to reopen — will not come until the state has access to therapeutic drugs to treat COVID-19, Angell said last week. Experts have warned that that development may take months or longer.

New testing sites, and an ‘army’ of contact tracers

The lifted restrictions come as California has managed to ramp up its testing for the coronavirus, with the state now testing 30,000 people each day for the disease — exceeding its goal of 25,000 by the end of April, Newsom said. The state will also open 86 new testing sites, according to Angell.

“Testing has really taken off,” Newsom said Monday.

As for contact tracing — a crucial way to follow the spread of the disease — Newsom on Monday announced a new program that he said will train 3,000 tracers per week, supplementing an existing workforce of more than 2,800 tracers who work in 22 counties across the state.

The "academy," developed in partnership with UC San Francisco and UCLA, will open Wednesday and aims to eventually train at least 20,000 contact tracers. They will undergo a 12-hour online course followed by an eight-hour in-person course before being deployed, Newsom said.

As the state considers when to further lift restrictions, officials will keep an eye on a number of metrics, including the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations, the availability of personal protective equipment for health workers, the health care system's ability to handle a surge in patients, and the ability to continue testing and tracing for the virus.

All of those metrics are currently on schedule, according to the state's timeline, Angell said.

Newsom took time Monday to scold some businesses across the state that reopened in recent days in violation of the stay-home order, saying he was prepared to punish the owners if necessary.

The state's department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has investigated 81 of those businesses, of which 80 closed back down after the agency threatened to revoke their liquor licenses, Newsom said.

The governor also sounded a note of caution Monday, saying as he has before that residents should prepare for the possibility that orders could be reimposed if virus cases spike again.

"I am not naïve," he said. "If conditions radically change … we will have to appropriately ratchet up our stay-at-home orders."

"Let's hope we don't have to do that," he said.

Full coronavirus coverage: Coronavirus In California: What To Know

This article originally appeared on the Across California Patch