Retail, manufacturing will be among first to reopen when California alters stay-at-home order

Retail establishments, manufacturers, offices that can’t operate remotely and public spaces will be in the first wave of workplaces to reopen in California, but the state isn’t yet ready to make that move, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday.

“We believe we are weeks, not months away from making meaningful modifications,” Newsom said, referencing the state’s stay-at-home orders designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Schools may reopen for an earlier school year that could start in July or August to make up for lost learning time because of the pandemic, Newsom said, although he stressed that no final decisions have been made. Retail would initially be restricted to curbside pickup, according to a series of slides shown during the Tuesday news conference.

In the meantime, California needs to do more to prepare, including dramatically increasing its testing and hospital capacity, Newsom said. Employers must ensure workers can stay home when they are sick and adapt workspaces so employees are less likely to spread the virus.

Newsom says reopening will hinge on California’s ability to conduct widespread testing, keep at-risk people safe, handle a surge in hospital patients, better treat COVID-19 and keep people six-feet apart at schools and businesses. He says reopening will also depend on officials’ ability to re-tighten rules if cases surge.

“The goal will be for lower-risk sectors to adapt and reopen,”said Dr. Sonia Angell, who leads the state’s Department of Public Health.

Higher risk businesses, including salons, gyms, theaters, sports without live audiences, weddings and other in-person religious services, will be in the next phase of reopening, but that likely won’t happen for “months,” Newsom said.

California will need to have widespread surveillance in place by that point, Angell said.

Concerts, convention centers and sporting events with live audiences will not be able to reopen until treatments for the coronavirus have been developed, Newsom said.

A vaccine or widespread immunity could also allow those types of large events to resume, Angell said.

Elected officials from six rural Northern California counties have been asking Newsom to let them open sooner than the rest of the state because they have low coronavirus infection rates.

But Angell said Tuesday that although some counties can choose to reopen more slowly than the state, no counties will be allowed to go faster.

Newsom stressed that nothing will reopen unless the science and data indicates it is safe to do so.

“Politics will not drive our decision-making,” he said. “Protests will not drive our decision-making.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 12:34 PM.