When will SLO County reopen? Local officials have a plan — but it’s still under wraps
San Luis Obispo County is close to completing a “roadmap” for the reopening of a local economy that’s been on coronavirus lockdown since mid-March.
Public officials, including a subcommittee of two county supervisors and two mayors, have been reviewing the plan, though county Public Health Officer Penny Borenstein has ultimate approval authority.
The Board of Supervisors is meeting in special session at 9 a.m. Tuesday for an update on the “roadmap.” It also will discuss drafting a letter to the governor, outlining the county’s approach.
So what, exactly, is the county’s plan?
Most of us still don’t know.
Over the past several days, the county has been sharing a draft with business and industry groups, churches and nonprofit agencies — but it has yet to release it to the general public.
That’s been frustrating for residents who have been closely following the situation, since the plan was targeted for release on Monday. Now officials say it probably won’t be ready for release prior to Tuesday’s meeting, though it will be out later in the week.
On the one hand, this is not something to rush. The county should react in a thorough and thoughtful way.
But how about some transparency here?
At least give the public a chance to review the draft before it’s finalized and sent off to the Governor’s Office — not for his approval but, according to County Administrative Officer Wade Horton, “so he can see how SLO County is prepared for transition back to local control.”
Public reaction
Some residents already are questioning whether the county is acting in their best interests — and that’s only going to get worse if the county appears to be hiding something from the public.
Consider this Facebook post from South County resident Jerry Bunin (full disclosure: Bunin is a former Tribune reporter).
“I am going to read the county plan when it is released, allegedly early (this) week. However, my efforts will be useless. It will only make me angrier. No elected official cares. They already made a decision.”
Bunin believes reopening is “wildly premature,” since there’s no vaccine, inadequate testing, a lack of medical equipment and thousands of people are still dying across the country.
Plenty of others take the exact opposite view and insist a devastated economy will take an even bigger toll than the virus. They also point out that San Luis Obispo County is not like New York or Los Angeles; there has been only one death here, and the county suffers no shortage of hospital beds. They accuse officials of not doing enough to protect the economy.
“We’re seeing that the long-term effects of this are not being considered,” Los Osos resident Nathan Glazebrook said at a weekend protest in San Luis Obispo. “There is no plan to reopen the economy and there needs to be.”
Meeting the milestones
San Luis Obispo County officials say the reopening plan complies with both state and federal directives, which require communities to meet certain benchmarks before they can safely begin phasing out of lockdown.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has set six conditions: ability to monitor and track potential cases; protection of high-risk individuals; sufficient hospital capacity to handle a surge; ability to deliver therapies to treat COVID patients; ability to maintain social distancing at facilities seeking to reopen; and a plan to reinstate restrictions if necessary.
The county believes it has met most if not all of the governor’s goals, though it isn’t pushing for a particular date to begin reopening.
Rather, county officials are taking a conciliatory tone with Sacramento — for example, they quickly reacted to the “Today” show’s erroneous report that SLO County planned to reopen on May 1.
The county’s lobbyist fired off an email to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s senior staff, explaining that “Today’s” report was in error and stressing the county’s willingness to comply with the governor’s mandates.
“(At) next Tuesday’s board meeting, the board will discuss the county’s roadmap to ‘reopening’ WHEN THE GOVERNOR LIFTS THE ORDER and they will be crafting a VERY CAREFUL statement/letter regarding this,” the email said.
“They want to continue to work cooperatively with the governor and CDPH (California Department of Public Health) — and they want to emphasize ... that they are not in conflict with the governor’s stay-at-home order...”
That’s a softer approach than the one taken by Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, in an April 20 letter he sent to the governor.
That letter — also signed by all seven mayors in the county, plus supervisors John Peschong and Debbie Arnold — asked the governor to allow the county to “implement a phased reopening of the economy over the next three weeks.”
To some observers, it appeared SLO County was ready to go rogue and rush into reopening.
That’s not the case.
The county has been conservative in its approach to the COVID-19 crisis. It issued a stay-at-home order even before the state did; it moved quickly to setup a temporary medical facility at the Cal Poly Rec Center; and it closed outdoor facilities when social distancing rules were being ignored.
We’re confident the county will take a similarly cautious and measured approach in its reopening plan.
That path is not going satisfy everyone — certainly not those clamoring for an immediate end to the lockdown, nor those opposed to any lifting of restrictions.
That’s OK; the best way forward is a balanced approach that adequately protects public health while avoiding complete economic and social collapse.
We expect that the county’s plan will meet that objective.
So why the holdup?
We urge officials to release the “roadmap,” even if it’s still in draft form, as soon as possible so that all interested members of the public — not just a select group of stakeholders — can judge it for themselves.
This editorial has been updated to include information from County Administrative Officer Wade Horton and a comment from a protester calling for a reopening of the economy.
This story was originally published April 26, 2020 at 5:00 AM.