Now is the time for Fresno City Council to sensibly, safely reopen the economy

It was great to learn that the Fresno City Council on Thursday will seek to modify the COVID-19 emergency orders in ways that let more businesses safely reopen and thus rekindle the local economy.

The details are yet to be hammered out. But it was significant that even City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld, who has gushed a torrent of criticism over the emergency orders, was willing to engage in the debate to forge solutions.

Bredefeld has focused too much of his argument in the past few weeks on what he sees as the economic injustice of orders that closed “nonessential” businesses, including restaurants and dine-in seating.

The other part of the issue is public health, and the council must keep that first and foremost. Otherwise, the rigor of the past two-and-a-half months that Fresnans have endured will be for naught. No one wants to cause a vulnerable person to become infected and die, and that is what is at stake.

Likewise, businesses that get to reopen must do so under the new reality the pandemic has created for everyone. There is no going back to “normal.” Rather, there is a new normal that will mean things like frequent sanitizing, social spacing, facial coverings and smaller gatherings.

Cases still climbing

Balancing the need to reopen the economy with the public health threat is challenging. On Monday, for example, Fresno County reported 70 new cases. The curve continues locally to rise. Seventeen people as of Monday had died from COVID-19 in Fresno County.

But Gov. Gavin Newsom signaled his willingness to let most of the counties in California reopen if they can show low and steady rates of hospitalization and positive cases. In Fresno County, the increase has been slow enough that local hospital resources have not been overwhelmed.

With that in mind, Fresno City Councilmember Luis Chavez plans to propose that the city’s emergency orders be revised to allow restaurants to seat diners once county and state approvals are secured.

He also proposes to require face coverings for indoor public spaces, and to remove any threat of jail for those who violate social-distancing rules except for the most outrageous offenders.

Chavez further proposes to give $10 million to Fresno County to increase COVID-19 testing capacity and contact tracing, keys to getting a firm handle on the local outbreak.

Finally, those most vulnerable to the respiratory ravages of COVID-19 — namely, elderly people or those with serious health challenges already — must remain sheltered for their safety, Chavez proposes. Everyone else can follow guidelines of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Bredefeld also has a proposal that is terse and direct: To do away with all the emergency orders issued since mid-March and simply follow county rules and CDC guidelines. The council majority is inclined not to take it up, said Council President Miguel Arias. “A one-sentence proposal is not worthy of being labeled a proposal, much less one the council takes seriously,” he said.

The remaining player the council must work with is Mayor Lee Brand, who noted Tuesday that he would flesh out details with Chavez.

Right footing

There have been several ugly incidents in Fresno in the past few weeks, the result of the stress the pandemic has placed on the city. First was the standoff outside the Waffle Shop restaurant when a police officer tried to open a crowd that blocked the front door to code enforcement officers there to cite the owner for violating the closure order.

The officer ended up detaining a man who blocked the door, to the jeers and insults of the crowd — much of it not suitable for polite conversation.

Then there was the scene outside Arias’ apartment when a conservative provocateur and his crew showed up to video ambush the council member over how the economy was being harmed by closure orders. Arias feared for his children, who were asleep inside the apartment, and he allegedly pushed the men from the front step and down a staircase. The group asked that a citizen’s arrest order be brought against Arias.

Tensions have been high, the rhetoric at times supercharged. Thursday offers a chance for everyone in city leadership — from Mayor Brand to the council members to local business owners — to act with measured calm and seek the welfare of the city to which they profess to be committed.

That Fresno has had relatively few deaths from this dangerous illness is something everyone should feel good about. Here is hoping Fresnans also wind up proud of their leaders re-establishing the economy in sound, sensible ways.