SLO County is now on the state’s coronavirus watch list. Here’s what that means
San Luis Obispo County has officially been added to the state’s watch list for surging coronavirus cases.
According to a San Luis Obispo County Office of Emergency Services tweet Monday, state public health officials notified the county on Monday that it has been added to the watch list, which means it is not performing to the state’s standards for reopening.
Local officials warned that some businesses in some sectors should prepare to close pending a state order.
San Luis Obispo County officials warned last week that the state could be added to the list after failing to meet all of California’s criteria to remain open amid the coronavirus pandemic.
On July 8, county public health officer Dr. Penny Borenstein said that if the county is on the state’s watch list for three consecutive days, the state will close indoor operations of various sectors.
During his media briefing on Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he is ordering indoor operations at a range of businesses to shut down immediately across the entire state, regardless of watch list status.
This includes dine-in restaurants, wineries and tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos and museums, cardrooms and all bars, both indoors and outdoors.
Additional closures were also ordered for counties that have been on the watch list for three consecutive days, he added. Those affect fitness centers, places of worship, officers for non-critical sectors, personal care services, hair salons and barbershops and malls.
If San Luis Obispo County stays on the watch list for three consecutive days, local businesses in those sectors would be expected to close.
During her briefing July 8, Borenstein said that being on the watch list also starts a conversation between the county and the state’s public health department about where local cases are originating and additional measures that could be taken to curb the spread of coronavirus.
“We are doing everything in our power to try to analyze where our numbers are coming from and we continue to ask of the community and work with the community to try to maintain all of the best practices so that the numbers don’t get worse, and so that we can find our way to stabilization and a downturn,” she said.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 12:21 PM.
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