Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday said California will soon begin the second stage of its reopening, allowing many retail stores to resume business as early as Friday, albeit with major modifications.
The order will allow for the reopening of scores of nonessential businesses that are able to offer curbside pickup service. That includes clothing stores, bookstores and florists, as well as related manufacturing and supply chains, Newsom said. Not included are eat-in restaurants, shopping malls, offices and other high-contact businesses.
"We are entering into the next phase this week, end of the week, with modifications," Newsom said during his daily press briefing. "We're allowing retail to start across the spectrum."
The state will release guidelines on Thursday, he said, stressing that businesses must be able to adhere to specific safety measures, including maintaining social distance among employees and customers.
"This is a very positive sign," Newsom said. He noted that the decision was based on encouraging statewide data trends, including an uptick in testing, but said restrictions would be tightened again if infection rates began to increase.
The upcoming order also gives individual counties greater leeway to open more services if they can demonstrate the capacity to do so safely, Newsom said. Counties can also choose to maintain current restrictions, as some in the Bay Area are likely to do.
To support further reopening efforts, Newsom also announced a new partnership between the state and UCSF and UCLA to run a virtual academy to train new contact tracers, with the goal of adding 3,000 new tracers each week.
— Matthew Green (@MGreenKQED)