Coronavirus updates: Some California retailers may reopen for pickup Friday, Newsom says
Tensions have risen in California as the statewide shutdown continues, with local leaders in rural and suburban areas calling for shelter-in-place restrictions to be lifted or eased as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak economic havoc.
The state is entering its seventh full week under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandatory stay-at-home order, issued March 19 as an effort to slow the spread of the virus by instituting social distancing. California was the first state in the U.S. to do so.
Newsom announced during Monday’s news conference that some California retail businesses – including clothing, bookstores, sporting good stores and florists – may begin to open on curbside pickup-only basis starting Friday, if certain criteria are met by Thursday. More detailed guidance and information about those specific criteria will be released Thursday, he said.
Those businesses fall under “Stage 2” of Newsom’s four-phase reopening plan. Newsom said last week that places considered as “low risk” for transmission of the virus will be allowed to open first amid that stage.
Shopping malls, offices in which work can be performed remotely and restaurants are businesses within Stage 2 that will not be allowed to reopen this Friday.
Newsom also said that parts of California with lower COVID-19 numbers may be allowed to “move further” along in Stage 2 of the reopening plan, with plans that need to be “locally certified” by county public health officials and supervisors.
“We do recognize the variations and the diversity in the state,” he said.
A number of local elected officials recently described Newsom’s indefinite statewide stay-at-home order as a one-size-fits-all plan that doesn’t take into account different coronavirus case rates or geography.
California has fared relatively well overall in the fight against COVID-19, the disease caused by the highly contagious virus, so far reporting modest death and infection figures, considering its population of about 40 million.
Dr. Sonia Angell, the state’s director of public health, said during Monday’s briefing that California is “on track” with regards to six metrics for reopening: hospitalization stability, personal protective equipment inventory, health care surge capacity, testing capacity, contact tracing capability and public health guidance.
“Our (hospital) surge capacity is in really a good place,” Angell said.
Newsom and health experts have credited early action and strong adherence to social distancing guidelines in helping ward off surges of hospitalizations and fatalities.
Still, more than 2,200 have died among nearly 54,000 lab-confirmed cases of the coronavirus, the California Department of Public Health said in a Sunday update. More than half of the state’s death toll so far come from Los Angeles County, where more than 1,200 have died and more than 25,000 cases have been reported, according to the county’s public health department.
More than 1.1 million cases and 68,000 fatalities have been reported nationwide as of Monday afternoon, according to a data map by Johns Hopkins University, with a high percentage of the country’s infections and deaths coming in New York.
With Newsom’s stay-at-home order came the closure of businesses considered nonessential. Unemployment hit record highs, as mass layoffs or furloughs commenced within days or weeks across a range of economic sectors. Some of those temporary business closures became permanent, as the state and U.S. now find themselves in a recession.
Sacramento area: 74 dead, 12 at Woodland nursing facility
Five additional coronavirus deaths were announced Monday morning by Sacramento County public health officials. Two died in the city of Sacramento, as well as one in each of Folsom, Rancho Cordova and Citrus Heights.
Confirmed infections in the county rose by just 10 from the previous day.
The four-county Sacramento region has seen a combined total of 74 COVID-19 fatalities among just over 1,500 confirmed positive cases.
As of 10 a.m. Monday, Sacramento County health officials have reported 1,127 cases of coronavirus and 47 deaths. Of the fatalities, 24 have come in the city of Sacramento, five in Citrus Heights, three in Elk Grove, three in Rancho Cordova, two in Folsom and 10 in unincorporated parts of the county.
Yolo County reported two deaths Monday afternoon, bringing the death toll there to 19. Across the county, 171 people have been infected. Most of the deaths have originated from Stollwood Convalescent Hospital, a skilled nursing facility at the St. John’s Retirement Village in Woodland, where at least 12 have died. A total of 66 people at Stollwood – 32 residents and 34 staff — have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the county’s public health website.
Placer County has confirmed 161 cases and eight deaths, last updated 10:30 a.m. Monday. The infection total increased by two over the previous update, and no new fatalities have been reported since April 15.
El Dorado County has confirmed six more cases Monday afternoon, bringing the total number of people infected there to 53. The county has not reported any deaths related to the coronavirus.
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Calls for end to stay-at-home order continue
Three rural Northern California counties have defied Newsom so far, allowing partial reopenings ahead of the governor’s permission to do so. Modoc County allowed businesses, schools and churches to reopen Friday. Yuba and Sutter counties said some businesses, such as hair salons and tattoo parlors, could open Monday.
Localities in the Sacramento region, including the cities of Placerville, Roseville and Folsom, have written Newsom saying their counties be allowed to “control their own destinies,” as a letter signed last week by Folsom Mayor Sarah Aquino and city manager Elaine Andersen phrased it.
Angell said that later Monday, California will release “readiness criteria” guidelines, which will govern how quickly individual counties can reopen for business. Counties will have to submit a plan that the state would review and approve, she said. One of the criteria will be contact tracing, and counties will be required to have enough health staffers performing contact tracing to better determine the true extent of the virus’s spread in different parts of the state, according to Angell.
Calls for Newsom to ease the restrictions have also come from public demonstrators.
Roughly 1,000 people gathered near the west steps of the Capitol last Friday to protest the stay-at-home order, a rally that lasted about four hours and ended with California Highway Patrol officers arresting at least 32 people after issuing an order to disperse.
Some held American flags and signs calling for the economy to reopen. The demonstration started peacefully but escalated when CHP officers ordered people to leave the steps of the landmark downtown Sacramento building.
Some demonstrators got within a few inches of officers’ faces, screaming that their rights to assemble were being violated and calling officers “traitors” for defending the government’s orders to restrict gatherings at schools, businesses and churches.
The protest was in direct violation of both Newsom’s stay-at-home order and a CHP ban on protests on state property, the latter prompted by another crowded demonstration at the Capitol a week earlier.
In a news release, the CHP said 32 were arrested for “failing to comply with the lawful order to disperse” and for ignoring a health officer, both misdemeanor charges. The CHP said “the majority of those who were arrested offered no physical resistance to being arrested and no use of force was used on the demonstrators.”
What do we know about California’s reopening plan?
Newsom so far has pointed to six “indicators” in which the state must see measurable success in managing the coronavirus crisis before any reopening can occur. And last week, the governor laid out a four-stage plan for easing stay-at-home restrictions.
After Stage 1, which is where we are now, retail, manufacturing and a number of other “low-risk” businesses will be allowed to reopen with modifications as part of Stage 2. In Stage 3, higher-risk businesses and personal services — such as fitness centers, barber shops as salons — may reopen. Stage 4 represents the total lifting of the stay-at-home order, meaning large gatherings like concerts or sports events with spectators may resume.
Newsom early last week said the start of Stage 2 was “weeks, not months” away and on Friday said the state could be “days, not weeks” from the next loosening of restrictions. The governor followed up with Monday’s announcement that a number of non-essential retailers, such as bookstores, could resume business on a curbside pickup basis.
Also Friday, Newsom said the state had reached its goal of testing 25,000 people per day for the coronavirus by the end of April. California aims to test at least 60,000 people per day, the governor has said.
Dentists allowed to resume practice, but lack protective masks
Last week, the governor said healthcare providers could resume doing routine, nonemergency treatments. But many of the state’s 36,000 dentists lack the necessary protective equipment to do so.
A Department of Public Health official in a March 13 email to the California Dental Association confirmed the association would receive 1 million masks. Those masks were hauled by truck to a warehouse in Fresno, then moved to the association’s distribution facility in Reno.
“The next day, after picking up the masks, we got a request — well, it was more than a request — the state ordered their masks back,” said Richard Stapler, a California Dental Association vice president.
An early April order that effectively closed dental practices statewide was recently lifted, with caveats, but dentists say they’re not sure how to proceed.
“We need PPEs, face shields, gowns,” said Stephanie Sandretti, a Sacramento and Roseville dentist on the California Dental Association’s government affairs council.
Stapler said dentists feel that they are being overlooked by the state and the federal governments, which have focused on hospital workers and first responders.
“Oral healthcare is healthcare. The mouth is part of the human body,” Stapler said. “You’re cutting out an entire part of the human body of the healthcare system by overlooking dentistry.”
He said many small dentist operations are on the brink of closing because “they can’t get clear guidance” from the state.
In a response to a list of questions from The Bee, the Department of Public Health replied with a brief unsigned statement that said if dentists have concerns about supplies, they should contact their local public health department or Medical Health Operational Area Coordinator. The department did not address a question about why officials took the masks back.
Stapler says the association estimates that dentists would need to have 1.8 to 3 million masks — both N95s and the regular surgical variety — per week. They’d be worn with reusable face shields, which can be cleaned between patients. The masks would need to be disposed of after each patient.
California tourism losing $72 billion
California’s tourism economy will fall by half this year, representing a loss of $72.8 billion to the state’s hotels, theme parks and other travel destinations.
A report released Monday by Tourism Economics, a consulting firm from Wayne, Pennsylvania, said the travel industry won’t rebound quickly.
Recovery in the third quarter of the year, starting July 1, “is assumed to be moderate,” the report said. “Leisure travel is anticipated to resume, but at a lower level than before Covid-19 restrictions. Business travel is anticipated to be weak. Small group events are assumed to be permitted, but attendance is expected to be lower than planned.”
Although the recovery is expected to be “moderately strong” by this fall, demand for hotel rooms will still be 21 percent lower than the same time last year, the report said.
The report, which was released by Visit California, the nonprofit group that supports the state’s tourism efforts, reflects how swiftly and thoroughly the coronavirus pandemic has hit the industry. Sierra Nevada ski resorts closed before Newsom issued his stay-at-home order.
Biba, iconic midtown Sacramento Italian restaurant, to close
Biba Restaurant, the renowned Italian bistro that has been a mainstay of Sacramento’s restaurant scene since the 1980s, will permanently close its doors at the end of business this coming Saturday due to business lost from the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is with a heavy heart that Biba’s family has decided, after 33 years, the time has come for Biba Restaurant to say Arrivaderci,” wrote Paola Caggiano in a statement shared with The Sacramento Bee.
Paola Caggiano is one of two daughters of the late Biba Caggiano, who died last summer at 82.
“This feels like a second death. It feels like my mom died again,” Paola Caggiano told The Bee in a recent interview. “... Costs started to add up and we can’t make ends meet.”
Restaurants statewide have been forced to transition to delivery or take-home service only, with in-restaurant dining forbidden under Newsom’s order. The change has been an insurmountable one for a number of local restaurants, even those as iconic as Biba.
Caggiano said Sutter Health, Biba’s property landlords, offered to cut the rent in half for two months. But for a restaurant that would normally have its tables packed with diners, that was not enough.
“In the end, it’s a long-term issue,” Caggiano said. “It totally isn’t Sutter’s fault. It’s a combination of many issues.”
World numbers: More than 3.5 million cases, almost 250,000 dead
More than a quarter of a million people have died worldwide from COVID-19, as of Monday afternoon, according to the Johns Hopkins University data map.
More than 68,000 of those fatalities have come in the United States, according to the university. New York state is closing in on 25,000 dead from the coronavirus, including just under 19,000 so far in New York City. New Jersey’s death toll has risen above 7,900, and Massachusetts and Michigan are each beyond 4,000 deaths.
Italy has reported over 29,000 coronavirus deaths and the United Kingdom is nearing that number. Spain and France have each surpassed 25,000 fatalities.
Next on the list are Belgium at just under 8,000 dead, Brazil at over 7,300, Germany at close to 7,000, Iran at nearly 6,300 and the Netherlands at nearly 5,100.
What is COVID-19? How is the coronavirus spread?
Coronavirus is spread through contact between people within 6 feet of each other, especially through coughing and sneezing that expels respiratory droplets that land in the mouths or noses of people nearby. The CDC says it’s possible to catch the disease COVID-19 by touching something that has the virus on it, and then touching your own face, “but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”
Symptoms of the virus that causes COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath, which may occur two days to two weeks after exposure. Most develop only mild symptoms, but some people develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal. The disease is especially dangerous to the elderly and others with weaker immune systems.
Sacramento Bee reporters Tony Bizjak, Sophia Bollag, Marcos Bretón, Dale Kasler, Vincent Moleski, Jason Pohl, Ryan Sabalow, Andrew Sheeler, Sam Stanton, Hannah Wiley and Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks contributed to this report. Listen to our daily briefing:
