[ad_1]
Riverside County officials presented a plan starting after Labor Day to gradually reopen businesses and places of worship forced to close following a spike in coronavirus cases.
In an Aug. 12 letter to state public health officials, county chief executive George Johnson said the three-phase plan, which must be approved by the state, builds on the measures taken by the county to combat the spread of COVID-19. The letter also describes the strain the virus and the ensuing economic shutdown has placed on county residents and public services.
“The purpose of this advocacy platform is to actively engage with (the California Department of Public Health) in a meaningful discussion about the steps we can take together to achieve positive results and plan for the gradual reopening of our society and our economy in a measured and safe way that balances the many aspects of public health needs that we are collectively charged with meeting, ”Johnson wrote in the letter.
Johnson described the county’s “Community Action Plan”, launched on July 24, to contain the virus, including a “Masks for Medicine” campaign to distribute 10 million free masks to residents.
As part of the county’s plan to reopen, starting September 8, restaurants, wineries and breweries; places of worship; non-essential indoor offices; and “personal care businesses” – barbershops, nail salons and tattoo shops, for example – would be allowed to reopen in accordance with state COVID-19 guidelines.
The second phase, starting September 22, would give the green light to wedding receptions, group meetings and events, and indoor malls. Phase three, starting October 6, would reopen gyms, cinemas and bars.
Health metrics would be measured to see if it is safe to move forward with each phase of reopening.
“Having a plan that sets target dates and expectations will provide a tangible goal for our residents and create a groundswell towards achieving realistic actions within the 30 day time frame,” Johnson wrote. “A state commitment will make it clear to our residents that the sacrifices demanded of them will have a related goal both to achieving a more stable and sustainable spread of the disease and to reopening parts of our society and economy.
The California Department of Public Health did not respond to a request for comment on the letter on Monday, August 17. Since the state ordered the current restrictions, the plan to reopen the county requires Sacramento’s approval.
This isn’t the first time the county has pushed to reopen businesses delayed by a stay-at-home statewide order and other measures imposed to limit COVID-19 infections. After the county got permission from Sacramento to join a reopening express lane, malls, retail stores and restaurants were given the green light to reopen in late May, followed by a wider range of businesses as the increase in cases and hospitalizations has stabilized.
Cases in the county and across California increased after Memorial Day, prompting Dr Cameron Kaiser, the county’s public health official, to order bars to close on June 30.
A day later, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered a wide range of businesses in counties on the state’s COVID-19 watchlist – including Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties – close indoor operations, including indoor meals, to counter an increase in hospitalizations related to coronaviruses.
As for confirmed cases, the current picture is a bit cloudy.
Riverside County numbers fell in early August as the state struggled with its reporting system, and again hit levels near the July peak as the backlog recedes, but it is not known how many new cases reported each day are recent.
Information on hospitalizations and deaths was not affected by these same issues. Hospitalizations are down significantly – for the first time since June, fewer than 300 people are currently hospitalized with coronavirus in Riverside County. Death rates, however, are still high, with around 13 deaths per day in August, compared to an average of less than eight per day in July.
The county, like the rest of California, is also subject to a statewide facial coverage warrant issued on June 18, just over a month after the supervisory board ordered the official County Public Health to reverse its county-wide facial coverage order.
Johnson’s letter includes graphs and figures showing how the county’s economy and public health have deteriorated since the start of the pandemic.
From January to May, the county saw a 16% increase in drug overdoses compared to the same period in 2019, according to a chart. The county lost more than 100,000 jobs in March and April, nearly 40% of tenants are not confident in their ability to pay next month’s rent, and the number of county residents served by CalFresh – food stamps – has increased by 22% between March and June. .
“We need to work on a way to gradually reopen our economy and our society while maintaining the focus on safe practices for our long-term future,” County spokeswoman Brooke Federico said via email.
“The current environment of closures was never meant to be long term and is not sustainable, so we need to engage the state in a discussion of how we are gradually and safely reducing this situation.”
Brandon Brown, UC Riverside associate professor in the School of Medicine’s department of social medicine, population and public health, has reservations about the county’s reopening plan.
“We have had the highest number of deaths from COVID-19 in the past 2 weeks in Riverside County,” Brown said via email. “It’s not a big push to push for a phased reopening plan, especially an accelerated plan every 2 weeks where we wouldn’t be able to see the impact of every phase of reopening.”
He added: “Bringing large numbers of people together indoors without adequate physical distance such as in restaurants, places of worship, weddings, cinemas and bars will cause the infection to spread. We have already moved to reopen and had to step back and close due to inadequate preparation.
By having a gradual reopening approach, “there will be more opportunities along the way to assess the effects of the reopening before going any further,” said Federico.
“We also note that the second round of closures began in early July. This plan would take us to early October, at least 90 days, before returning to where we were before July 2 when the last closures were ordered … the county is committed to providing guidance and training to our community of ‘business to help them reopen with proper security procedures in place. “
The county also wants the state to change its standards for positivity rates, or the percentage of the county’s COVID-19 tests that come back positive. Right now, anything over 8% puts a county on the state’s watch list; the county wants that to increase to 14%.
Federico said there was a greater focus “but not as much in Riverside (county)” on testing people with symptoms of COVID-19.
“In these cases, one can expect the positivity rate to be higher,” she said, adding that asymptomatic people are less likely to retest, which also increases the rate because it there are more tests on people with symptoms.
Editor-in-chief Nikie Johnson contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link