LAKE COUNTY — Many more types of businesses are poised to be allowed to reopen in Lake County on Friday, one week after state officials released new guidance for higher-risk businesses to resume operations in qualifying counties after months of coronavirus-related lockdowns.
Lake County, having been approved in May for a variance from the state’s pace of reopening, will move into the third stage of the state’s plan on Friday—allowing businesses like gyms and bars to open back up.
“As of Friday June 12, most places will be open,” said Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace during a meeting of the county board of supervisors on Tuesday. He also predicted that the remaining business types not yet included in the state’s guidelines for reopening will be included “fairly soon.”
Lake County, which by press time had confirmed 30 cases of coronavirus within its borders—a number that hadn’t changed in several days—locked down days ahead of the state at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, and has maintained low levels of transmission. This helped the county gain approval from the state to reopen more quickly, Pace has indicated.
The state last week issued guidelines for about a dozen industry sectors to be allowed to reopen beginning Friday. Pace noted that businesses including gyms, casinos, summer camps, vacation rentals, bars, campgrounds and museums will be allowed to reopen in Lake County on that date. The county is likely to issue more detailed information on this reopening soon.
“This is a big step; this is going to be a big opening,” Pace said.
Notably, neither nail salons or massage studios have been included in the new reopening guidelines by state officials—a point Pace raised during the meeting.
District 2 Supervisor Bruno Sabatier took issue with nail salons being left out.
“It’s starting to get to the point where one thing is okay and another is not, and there’s no logical reasoning as to the differences,” he argued.
According to a press release issued Wednesday by the county, the following businesses will be allowed to reopen (or in some cases, reopen more fully) Friday:
- Childcare services (updated, expanded)
- Schools (interim guidance)
- Day camps
- Casinos operated by Sovereign Tribal Nations
- Music, Film and Television Production
- Professional Sports without Live Audiences
- Campgrounds, RV Parks, and Outdoor Recreation
- Hotels and Vacation Rentals (e.g. VRBO, Airbnb)
- Cardrooms, Satellite Wagering Facilities and Racetracks
- Family Entertainment Centers
- Restaurants, Bars and Wineries
- Fitness Facilities
- Museums, Galleries, Zoos and Aquariums
Guidelines for these sectors on how to safely reopen can be found online at: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/OPA/Pages/NR20-113.aspx
With most of Lake County’s businesses gearing up to reopen, Pace drew attention to the need to develop new plans to ensure social distancing guidelines and other safety precautions, like masks and disinfecting, are observed in the long run.
“How do we live with this?” Pace asked, pointing to “long-term” guidelines.
District 4 Supervisor Tina Scott claimed that “the majority of our businesses are doing the right thing, but we continue to have those bad actors out there.” She urged businesses to do more to get their employees to wear masks.
District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown argued that the county’s shelter-in-place order never “avoided” any coronavirus infections, but that it only “delayed” the spread of the virus.
“We just need to open up,” he said.
Responding to Brown, Scott pointed to Lake County’s low case numbers as evidence of the shelter-in-place order’s success.
“I know it can be said that nothing happened, and so why did we shut down? But that’s a part of that. Nothing happened, and that’s what we were going for, is not having the spread of virus,” she said.
