L.A. County can reopen restaurants, barbershops, salons, Newsom says

Posted by LA TIMES By ALEX WIGGLESWORTH, JACLYN COSGROVE May 29, 2020 Original post: Click here

Los Angeles County on Friday received permission from the state to reopen restaurants for in-person dining, and resume services at barbershops and hair salons, marking a new phase in the region’s efforts to restart the devastated retail economy.

Restaurants, barbershops and hair salons will be able to reopen as early as this weekend, provided they can meet the county’s guidelines and safety protocols, officials said.

“This is a fine line that we’re walking in the county of Los Angeles,” County Supervisor Janice Hahn said Friday. “We are threading the needle between keeping the public safe and allowing our economy to reopen.”

She said that officials have been working with the county’s Economic Resiliency Task Force, which includes 40 experts from a variety of sectors, including the restaurant industry, to develop a detailed safety plan for in-restaurant dining. The plan includes diagrams showing how to separate tables six feet apart and proposes putting physical barriers between tables where such distancing isn’t possible, Hahn said.

As those plans suggest, things won’t immediately return to business as usual for the newly reopened establishments.

County public health officials are expected to announce restrictions on operations, including a 60% capacity limit for restaurants.

“Many of them will have to find creative ways to do that by utilizing their parking lots and the streets in front of their restaurants,” Hahn said.

Some communities, including San Pedro and Long Beach, are preparing to close streets to traffic and expedite permit variances so restaurants can put more tables and chairs outside. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is eyeing similar measures, Hahn said.

Both restaurants and salons are expected to be required to keep detailed records of customers, including contact numbers, so public health officials can quickly follow up with patrons in the event of an outbreak.

The move comes even though the county remains the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in California, with more than 2,200 deaths. More than half of all COVID-19 fatalities in the state have been in L.A. County, which has been slower to reopen than areas less hard-hit by the outbreak. The total number of confirmed cases in L.A. County is at nearly 50,000 — representing almost half of all California cases.

Earlier this week, the county reopened shopping malls, many retail businesses and churches with strict social distancing rules. But reopening restaurants and personal care businesses is considered a bigger step forward because both are considered higher-risk than typical stores.

L.A. County joins the vast majority of other counties in California to reopen restaurants and hair salons with social distancing rules.

The county submitted its variance application on Wednesday to the state, which decides whether counties can reopen at an accelerated rate if they meet certain COVID-19 benchmarks.

“I think the only reason that we felt comfortable asking the governor for a variance was because we have flattened the curve and we have not ever seen that spike and that surge in cases we were predicting a couple months ago,” Hahn said Friday. She noted that the county’s hospitals and intensive care units never reached capacity and the healthcare system did not become overwhelmed.

Still, she said, officials will monitor metrics to quickly identify and respond to any potential spike in cases.

“We know that with every part of the economy that we look to reopen, we’re talking about millions of people who now might be venturing outside to do something new and different,” she said. “So of course we’re going to keep a watchful eye on this and pay very close attention to the cases.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who established the variance process earlier this month, has cautioned residents that although businesses across the state are starting to reopen, the threat of the coronavirus is not over.

In its application to the state, L.A. County officials make the case that the county has met the criteria created by the California Department of Public Health to reopen.

For example, Los Angeles County had to prove that the prevalence of COVID-19 cases is low enough that, if the stay-at-home order is eased and cases undoubtedly increase, the county will have the capacity to respond.

The county reported a decline in its total number of hospitalized patients, a seven-day average of daily percent change of -1%, according to the variance application.

L.A. County also had to prove that the prevalence of the coronavirus spreading in the community was low enough to reopen. The state’s criteria is: 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.

L.A. County was able to meet the latter, with 6.5% people testing positive in the past seven days, according to the variance application. Meanwhile, the county saw almost 100 cases (98.7) per 100,000 people in the past 14 days, four times higher than the state’s criteria.

One of the more concerning portions of the county’s application related to showing that nursing homes are prepared should the COVID-19 pandemic intensify.

As of Tuesday, only 33% of the 381 nursing homes in L.A. County had enough personal protective equipment to last more than 14 days, according to the application. Less than half, 47%, have enough N95 masks to last two weeks, and only one-third have adequate gowns.

Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of health services for L.A. County, said last week that at the start of the coronavirus outbreak, every one person who contracted the virus infected more than three others. After the stay-at-home order was issued, that rate of transmission dropped to one — every person who contracted the virus infected only one other.

But, Ghaly warned, that number could rise again if the use of face coverings and social distancing practices do not continue.

For the past four days, the number of hospitalizations in L.A. County has remained relatively unchanged from 1,440 to 1,477 people in hospital care, and between 28% and 27% in intensive care. The county has also reported for the past four days that 8% of those who have been tested for the virus have been positive.

In the application to the state, the county included a draft of its community mitigation plan, which outlines how the pandemic could play out in the coming months in Los Angeles County.

According to that mitigation plan, completed May 15, health officials anticipate additional waves of cases at varying levels of severity will occur over the next 18 to 24 months throughout the U.S., including Los Angeles County, and will continue until enough people — at least 60% to 70% of the population — are immune to the virus.

“Extraordinary and historically unprecedented efforts have resulted in disease transmission slowing in Los Angeles County,” the plan reads. “However, its future course is still highly unpredictable.”

Times staff writer Colleen Shalby contributed to this report.