COVID-19: Masks along the side of the road

Businesses need to fill out the county “Safe Re-Opening Plan” – available here – and post it publicly, share with their employees, and ensure compliance.

The state has approved San Diego County to move farther through Stage 2 reopening, allowing dine-in restaurants and in-store retail businesses, with modifications. Steps for businesses to follow on https://t.co/2znbjgcyZ5

— SanDiegoCounty (@SanDiegoCounty) May 21, 2020

Helen Robbins-Meyer, the county’s chief executive officer, said Tuesday that the county meets Stage 2 acceleration criteria. According to the county, that criteria includes:

— Less than 5% of daily COVID-19 hospitalizations over a seven-day period or no more than 20 COVID hospitalizations on any single day in the past 14 days;

— Fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 residents in the past 14 days or less than 8% testing positive in the past seven days;

— A capacity to be able to test 1.5 per every 1,000 residents and at least 15 staff per 100,000 county population trained and available for contact tracing, and;

— Hospital capacity for a possible surge of 35% of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 cases in addition to providing usual care for other patients.

What’s allowed, not allowed for San Diego County restaurants, stores

Restaurants and stores can now open to serve customers in person. However, they must follow specific guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Guidelines for dine-in restaurants are:

• Temperature/symptom screening for employees daily
• Employees with symptoms are not allowed to work
• All tables need to be six feet apart or have barriers separating them
• Signs need to be posted reminding customers to social distance
• Employees must wear facial coverings
• Customers must wear facial coverings except when seated
• No self-service such as buffets, salad bars, soda machines, etc.
• Encourage reservations
• Expand outdoor seating

Before reopening, food businesses must fill and post the County Restaurant Operating Protocol. Additional guidance, posters and information for a safe reopening can be found on the coronavirus-sd.com page for restaurant operators website.

The County Department of Environmental Health continues conducting food safety status verifications to ensure compliance with the California Retail Food Code and provide guidance and education on the Health Officer Orders.

Retail shopping

Customers are allowed in stores, including malls, with the following requirements:

• Post signs saying no employees or customers with COVID-19 symptoms should enter
• Temperature/symptom screening for employees daily
• Employees and customers must wear facial coverings
• Limit number of customers to maintain six feet of distance

Businesses that have not done so already need to complete a Safe Reopening Plan, post it at their entrance and discuss with their employees. Retail businesses that have been providing curbside or front-door pick-up and will now be allowing customers indoors must update their plan.

The public or employees should not enter any business if they have symptoms of COVID-19, which include cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fever, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, or a new loss of taste or smell.

The plan was adopted because the County meets all the current readiness criteria and can safely move into an accelerated reopening.

As more places open to the public, it’s important for people to continue taking precautions to avoid getting and spreading COVID-19.

“Dining out and shopping must be done safely as crowded places increase the risk of exposure to COVID-19,” Wooten said. “People should continue wearing a face covering in public, maintain their distance from others, avoid touching their face and wash their hands frequently.”

While some San Diegans would like for more businesses to reopen and other activities to occur, the State has yet to allow the following to open:

• Hotels, Airbnb
• Gyms, fitness centers
• Hair, nail salons
• Beach parking lots
• Sitting or lying down on the beach
• Religious services, except funerals performed with social distancing

COVID-19 Testing, Cases and Deaths

Testing:

• 4,722 tests were reported to the County May 20, and 175 or 4% were positive.
• 3.7% was yesterday’s 14-day, rolling average percentage of positive tests.

Cases:

• 175 new cases were reported for a San Diego County total of 6,315.
• 1,183 or 18.7% of the total cases have required hospitalization.
• 354 or 5.6% of all cases had to be placed in intensive care.

Deaths:

• 11 more COVID-19 deaths were reported today, bringing the region’s total to 241.
• Seven women and four men died, and their ages ranged from 51 to 100 years.
• All but one had underlying medical conditions.

The number of active outbreaks, deaths and cases at nursing homes and other congregate living facilities are:

• 73 active outbreaks, 50 at congregate living facilities and 23 in community settings.
• 1,391 cases, including 119 deaths in congregate living facilities.
• 299 cases, including five deaths in community settings.

More COVID-19 Information

The County’s COVID-19 webpage contains additional information on the disease, including a graph showing new positive cases and total cases reported by date. The data is also broken down by gender, race and ethnic/race group. An interactive dashboard with several COVID-19 indicators is being updated daily. For more information, visit coronavirus-sd.com.