Humboldt County has everything in place to begin reopening lower risk workplaces, and will start with a soft reopening of some nonessential businesses this Friday, county officials say.
“For us, moving from that soft opening to that Phase 2 opening could be rather quick,” Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal told the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. “But we’re waiting till the governor kind of lays that out for us so we know for sure, but we could move to Phase 2 fairly quick.”
The state as a whole is doing a soft reopening of lower risk workplaces as it moves into Stage 2 of reopening the economy with more details to come from Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday. Stage 1 prioritized making essential workplace environments, such as health care facilities and grocery stores, as safe as possible, according to the state’s roadmap to reopening the economy, and Stage 2 will allow for the reopening of retail, manufacturing, offices, schools, childcare and more public spaces if proper health and safety measures are in place.
“The really big news, I think, from the governor is that we will have on the local level the ability to accelerate more through this Stage 2 and get more businesses operating based on our preparedness levels,” Humboldt County Health Officer Teresa Frankovich told the board.
Stage 3 will allow for the reopening for hair and nail salons, gyms, movie theaters, sports without live audiences, in-person religious services and other higher-risk environments with limits on gathering sizes, according to the state roadmap. Stage 4 would be the end of the shelter-in-place order.
Businesses interested in reopening can email their safety plans to the Humboldt County Joint Information Center at covidinfo@co.humboldt.ca.us to be reviewed and receive feedback, Frankovich said. The center can also be reached by phone at 707-441-5000.
The state is also expected to release guidance for multiple business types regarding how to tailor their response to the coronavirus so that everybody doesn’t have to “recreate the wheel,” Frankovich said.
In order to transition into Stage 2, counties need to meet six targets for things like being able to test and trace people with the infectious disease COVID-19, having adequate hospital capacity, and having the ability to support physical distancing at businesses, schools and other facilities.
The county has met those criteria, Frankovich told the board. The county has kept its infection rate low, has the ability to test around 135 residents per day and is pushing to get that figure to 270 tests per day. It has also increased its hospital capacity to handle a surge of up to 25%, among other things, Frankovich said.
Humboldt County Public Health Director Michele Stephens and 3rd District Supervisor Mike Wilson pointed out that the county should be mindful of its connection to surrounding counties and the rest of the state because things like inadequate testing and lifting travel restrictions could bring new infections in the area undetected.
“There are some areas that are a complete testing desert,” Stephens said, “and so we’re really fortunate in Humboldt County to have the testing capability that we do, but our surrounding counties do not have that.”
Response from the public was mixed. A couple business owners called in and said they were afraid of the order being eased and helping spread the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, potentially exposing themselves, their employees and customers. Others called in and said they were in support of lifting the order.
“We’re going to start opening our businesses,” one caller said. “We have to because we have no other choice.”
Honsal recommended businesses owners licensed through the state adhere to state guidelines to avoid losing their licenses, which would affect their livelihood further.
The board opted against sending a letter written by 1st District Supervisor Rex Bohn to Newsom asking him to lift the shelter-in-place order because the governor moved forward with easing the order a couple days after it was written.
In his daily coronavirus press conference at noon, Newsom said practicing physical distancing will become especially important as the economy begins to reopen and more people are put at risk of catching the virus.
“We’re not going back to normal,” Newsom said. “It’s back to a new normal with adaptations and modifications until we get to immunity, until we get to a vaccine. We’ll get there, that’s coming, that will happen. The question is what happens in between.”
Sonia Waraich can be reached at 707-441-0506.
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