What Gov. Newsom’s announcement means for SLO County retail shops
On Monday morning, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced some retail shops and manufacturing may open for curbside pickup or delivery, possibly as soon as Friday.
That includes bookshops, toy stores, clothing and shoe stores, florists, antique shops and sporting goods stores.
The list of businesses allowed to open with modifications is not as inclusive as San Luis Obispo County officials planned in their reopening guidelines. Still, “it is a step in the right direction,” Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein said at a press conference Monday afternoon.
Most businesses were shuttered statewide since a stay-at-home order went into effect in mid-March to prevent a spread of COVID-19 overwhelming hospital capacity. SLO County has already allowed some retail shops to offer curbside pickup and delivery even during the closure order.
Salons and restaurants are both included in Phase One of SLO County’s START Guide, but that process cannot begin until the state reinstates local control over shelter ordinances. While restaurants can offer curbside pickup and delivery, SLO County plans to allow spaced seating for dine-in customers as soon as the state lifts its order.
Other places such as Yuba and Sutter counties have already allowed businesses to reopen beginning Monday, in spite of the statewide order.
“We are not going to be able to step out in front of the state in that area,” Borenstein said of reopening businesses outside Newsom’s guidance. “But we will continue to have conversations with our counterparts, state public health officials.”
Some counties would be able to move on to the state’s next phase of reopening if they submit a plan that meets certain criteria, Newsom said.
That could happen fast for SLO County, which has the favorable conditions of a low number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus and a prepared plan for reopening, in addition to having recently increased testing capacity and expanded hospital bed capacity with the alternate care site at Cal Poly.
“We feel that we are ready in this county to submit our plan just as soon as we get specifics (from the state),” Borenstein said. “We will work as long, as hard, and as fast as we need to in order to meet that challenge.”
More information is likely to emerge in the coming days.
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 5:08 PM.
