Yolo County has green light to reopen some businesses. But here’s why officials will wait

Although it got a green light Wednesday from the state, Yolo County will wait until sometime next week before officials authorize the reopening of restaurants and stores in Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento and elsewhere.

That will give county health officers, businesses and patrons a chance to prepare safety measures, county spokeswoman Jenny Tan said.

Many businesses have been closed since the state and the county issued shutdown orders in March, when the coronavirus pandemic swept into Northern California. Yolo, which was hit with a major outbreak at one Woodland congregate care facility, reports it has otherwise kept virus numbers low.

“We want to make sure we have all our ducks in a row,” Tan said. “We want to make sure businesses know the rules and the public also knows it has a responsibility to follow the rules.”

That includes public use of face masks outside their house.

“We want to make sure we don’t have a surge later on,” Tan said.

Yolo County is one of 41 counties that has gotten state support for plans to reopen restaurants, stores and some other businesses. The county submitted an attestation document to the California Department of Public Health earlier this week proving it has sufficiently slowed infections and would be able to manage future outbreaks.

Statewide, California this week experienced two of its highest single-day death tolls since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, reaching triple digits twice.

County health officials plan to brief the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday morning on plans for moving forward, then will amend a local order to allow restaurants to open soon after.

Moving into the next phase of reopenings is a “a way for people to regain a sense of normalcy,” Yolo County Board Chair Gary Sandy previously told The Sacramento Bee.

“We don’t want to go backwards,” Sandy said. “We want to plan properly. We want people to enjoy themselves, and enjoy themselves safely.”

Several businesses are still not allowed to resume until Phase 3, including nail salons, tattoo parlors, gyms, bars, indoor museums and universities.

So far, 186 people have been infected with the virus in Yolo County, and 22 have died. Fifteen of those deaths have come at Stollwood Convalescent Hospital, located within the St. John’s Retirement Village campus in Woodland — the deadliest outbreak at a skilled nursing facility in the region.

This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 3:56 PM.