Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California
newsletter. It’s
Tuesday, May 5, and I’m writing from Los Angeles.
Amid growing pressure to ease a stay-at-home order that has cratered the California economy, Gov. Gavin Newsom took to the podium for his daily briefing on Monday and made a major announcement: The state will begin “reopening” this week, with some retail stores getting back to business as early as Friday, albeit with modifications.
But before you hire that celebratory marching band, remember that reopening the nation’s most populous state will be a slow process. Californians can expect change to happen incrementally over a series of months, following
a four-stage blueprint for easing restrictions that the governor laid out last week.
What’s happening this week
Bookstores, music stores, toy stores, florists, clothing stores, sporting goods retailers and others will be eligible to reopen for pickup beginning Friday, provided that the businesses make modifications to meet state guidelines. Manufacturing and logistics for the retail supply chain will also be able to resume.
How all of this fits into the broader plan
Think of each stage of Newsom’s plan as a stretch of highway with various landmarks along the way, rather than a single discrete destination. The state will begin moving into the second phase of the four-stage plan this week, but not all aspects will happen at once. Shopping malls, dine-in restaurants and offices where telework is possible have also been categorized as part of Stage 2, but they will reopen later. Officials have also said that restrictions will be continually assessed and could be modified based on regional health conditions, including testing capabilities.
What else you need to know
Rural Californians who’ve been
agitating for a faster timetable for loosening restrictions in their communities (or, in some cases,
defying those restrictionsaltogether) will probably welcome the other major announcement from Monday’s briefing.
Newsom said that he would allow for regional variation as the plan moves forward, with expanded decision-making at the local level. Some communities will be able to move further ahead into the second phase of the reopening process at their own pace and open more businesses — such as restaurant dining rooms — beyond those outlined in the statewide policy. But if communities want to take that next step, counties must first submit “containment plans” that meet certain requirements for hospital beds, testing kits and the ability to track infected people and trace their contacts.
And now, here’s what’s happening across California:
Amid an outbreak at one of its stores in Southern California, the largest U.S. grocery chain has announced it will provide free coronavirus testing for all its frontline associates who have symptoms or medical needs that make them eligible for testing under guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kroger, which operates multiple supermarket chains, including Kroger, Ralphs and Food4Less, said it will begin offering the testing this month through its healthcare division, Kroger Health. The announcement comes as an outbreak at a Ralphs in Hollywood marks the largest cluster of infections at a retail store recorded by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Twenty-one employees of the Sunset Boulevard grocery store’s 158 employees have tested positive for the virus.
Los Angeles Times
L.A. schools will start Aug. 18 as scheduled, but no decision has been made on whether campuses will reopen for in-person classes by that date. Supt. Austin Beutner said the timing for reopening LAUSD’s physical campuses remains uncertain.
Los Angeles Times
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