Coronavirus Update: Gov. Newsom Expected To Announce Reopening Plans Involving Restaurants
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to announce plans to open some restaurants and malls in certain counties on Tuesday.
Heath experts say there is no doubt that as California starts to return to a new normal, cases of the coronavirus will increase. And they are concerned that we may not know for weeks if the reopening is moving too fast.
"We're going to be in a level of uncertainty for many months to come," Dr. Art Reingold, an UC Berkeley epidemiologist said.
Reingold said it's not surprising that some California counties are moving faster than others to get businesses open again.
"One size fits all is not the way to go and people need to look at their local situations," he told KPIX 5.
On Tuesday, Newsom is expected to announce the next step in his phase two reopening plan, after laying out the initial steps just last week.
Reingold said there was no way of telling how or if COVID-19 has spread in that short amount of time.
"I think that it's clear that if we see a resurgence in infections, that will take 2-3 weeks to be apparent in terms of hospitalizations and deaths," Reingold said.
Newsom though is saying that 70 percent of businesses have already opened in California. The governor in his daily briefing on Monday said: "I deeply recognize the anxiety that people are feeling about the economic pressure and the need to reopen."
While some rural counties are trying to fast track reopening, others such as Contra Costa and Santa Clara are proceeding cautiously about setting any timetable.
The pressure to reopen maybe building at the State Capitol but Newsom insists data will be the driving force in how California reopens.
"It's not because we want to be particularly oppressive in terms of people's desires and needs but public health dictates that we do this in a judicious and thoughtful way," he said.
Newsom said he was working with individual counties on a plan to reopen. For counties that are moving too fast, there has been a threat to withhold stat funding to help recover from the pandemic.
