Bay Area implements new shutdown restrictions early
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new restrictions Thursday as a surge of coronavirus cases threaten to shut down most of the state for the rest of 2020.
The state is split into five regions under the new guidelines, and if a region's available ICU beds drops below 15%, then a whole rash of changes will take effect, such as closing nonessential businesses and limiting travel to critical services.
Health officials in the Bay Area aren't waiting to cross that threshold though, as Health Officers for the Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties announced Friday that they will implement the new stay-at-home order on Sunday.
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“We cannot wait until after we have driven off the cliff to pull the emergency break,” Dr. Sara Cody, the anta Clara County health officer, said. “We understand that the closures under the State order will have a profound impact on our local businesses. However, if we act quickly, we can both save lives and reduce the amount of time these restrictions have to stay in place, allowing businesses and activities to reopen sooner.”
Businesses are fretting about the impending shutdown as it comes after nine months of just trying to stay afloat.
"This is the busiest month of the year," Ashley Flowers, the manager of Insignia Hair Salon in the Bay area, said Friday. "This was the month that we were going to make everything back that we lost. And now we don’t even have that capability."
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Figuring out how to mitigate the spread of coronavirus while keeping the economy open has business leaders and health officials stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“It is incredibly difficult to balance public health needs against the ability of small businesses to stay open and workers to support their families," said Allan Zaremberg, the president and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce.
“The loss of revenue many small businesses will experience as a result of this latest shut down could be catastrophic."