State approves Fresno County to reopen dine-in restaurants, under certain conditions
Fresno County will be able to move forward with plans for reopening major economic sectors after two months of statewide stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The California Department of Public Health announced Thursday afternoon that it approved Fresno County’s declaration that the county meets the necessary criteria to accelerate the reopening of dine-in restaurants, as long as those businesses conform to conditions to keep people as safe as possible from the coronavirus.
“At this time, we request only reopening the dine-in restaurants activities, which are a major sector of the economy and social activity for our county,” wrote Dr. Rais Vohra, Fresno County’s interim health officer, in the documents submitted to the state. “We feel this single step will go a long way towards economic and social recovery.”
“We are confident this can be done safely because restaurant management and employees are highly trained to comply with safety precautions for a number of hazards including communicable diseases,” Vohra added.
Despite Vohra’s note in Fresno County’s 131 pages of documents, Jean Rousseau, Fresno County’s chief administrative officer, added that “non-essential” retail stores that had been closed will also be able to reopen. But that won’t apply yet to larger “destination” retail such as shopping malls or swap meets.
Fresno County now joins other central San Joaquin Valley counties that have been approved by the state to expand their reopening: Kings, Madera, Mariposa and Merced counties all have gotten a green light from the state. In the Valley, only Tulare County remains on the outside looking in, falling short of several of the state’s criteria including coronavirus case counts. But that county’s Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to move forward with reopening despite lacking state approval. Statewide, 42 of California’s 58 counties have received the state’s blessing for their reopening plans.
Those state thresholds were revised Monday, clearing the way for Fresno and the other Valley counties. Rather than simply requiring no more than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents over a four-day period – a criteria that is far exceeded by Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties – the state allowed counties to factor in new positive coronavirus tests as a proportion of all tests being done.
Hospitalization rates and surge capacities were also revised to a benchmark that was more realistic for counties across the state, and not just in the Valley, to achieve. Other criteria included testing availability and capacity, having enough staff to trace contacts of people who test positive, and the ability to provide shelter for at least 15% of a county’s homeless population to isolate and quarantine in the event of an outbreak.
Effective immediately
The authorization for Fresno County is effective immediately; county Supervisor Buddy Mendes said that means restaurants can fling open their doors and begin seating diners immediately, “like tomorrow,” referring to Friday.
Restaurants will be required to complete an online form detailing their various safety measures and submit it to the county’s Environmental Health Division before reopening, Mendes added. “It doesn’t even have to be approved.”
“Technically, if they go online this afternoon, they can open tonight,” added Supervisor Brian Pacheco, referring to Thursday evening.
Moving forward, Vohra said additional allowances may be made for allowing the reopening of “destination” retail including in-store shopping including shopping malls and swap meets, and schools with modified operations.
But Jordan Scott, a county spokesman, said there’s no timeline yet for retailers. “These settings are a bit higher risk than dine-in restaurants, so we’ll want to be sure adequate safety measures can be implemented before we look at reopening those,” he said. “Schools will be phased in as well when we have received further guidance from the state.”
The authorization adds restaurants to a list of other operations that were already allowed to resume earlier this month as part of a statewide easing of the stay-at-home orders. Those include curbside retail, manufacturing, logistics, childcare, office-based businesses, select services such as car washes, pet grooming, landscape gardening, outdoor museums, open gallery spaces and other public spaces with modifications.
For office-based businesses, however, the county continues to encourage workers to work remotely if possible.
‘Odd’ delay
Mendes and other supervisors voiced dismay that the state’s approval for Fresno County came a couple of days after other counties received authorization. “I find that pretty odd,” Mendes said.
Pacheco added, “We did it by the book. We did everything that was asked of us and we did it according to the rules that were set out for us.”
The state’s approval of Fresno County’s plans came hours after the city of Fresno announced that it was modifying its stay-at-home orders and would allow restaurants and other businesses to reopen Tuesday, following the Memorial Day weekend, subject to state and county guidelines. But Supervisor Steve Brandau, whose district encompasses much of the northwestern part of the city, said “I doubt there will be any serious ramifications if restaurants (in the city) opened immediately,” referring to fines or closures by the city’s code enforcement teams.
Mark Standriff, a spokesman for Fresno Mayor Lee Brand, confirmed later Thursday that as long as restaurants in the city meet the county’s criteria, they can reopen whenever they want.
Supervisor Nathan Magsig, who represents Clovis and northeastern Fresno County, said the county still has more work ahead of it.
“We are not stopping. We recognize … that all businesses in Fresno County are essential, as far as we’re concerned,” Magsig said.
Magsig noted that churches remain unapproved for resuming in-person services. “We as a board are pushing as hard as we can to get churches open, albeit at a more limited capacity,” he said. “We recognize the importance of congregating for people to come together and worship.”
Fresno Bee reporter Bethany Clough contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 2:39 PM.
