A week after Gov. Gavin Newsom identified six indicators determining when to change the existing stay-at-home order, Santa Barbara County officials have released the first steps of their own reopening plan.
During the Board of Supervisors meeting on April 21, Assistant County Executive Officer Nancy Anderson said that over the next four to six weeks, county staff plans to work with REACH—which is the new iteration of the economic development group formerly known as the Hourglass Project—on developing a plan for reopening the county’s economy.
In addition to working with REACH, county staff will receive input from representatives of local governments, school districts, businesses, and medical professionals. County staff and the stakeholders involved will work together to create a plan that’ll be presented to county Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso
“We will be developing a strategic phased reopening plan that complies with national and state guidance,” Anderson said. “It will outline the steps that can be taken safely as we deal with the epidemic transmission brought under control, and we will include tools and approaches to target infection containment under less restrictive orders.”
During the press conference where he announced the six indicators the state developed, Newsom said the most important piece of the framework is the ability to expand testing and trace and track individual cases of COVID-19. Other indicators include the ability to protect the most vulnerable from the virus; for hospitals to handle a surge in cases; to reimplement health measures if necessary; and for businesses and schools to function while supporting physical distancing; as well as the development of therapeutics.
Fourth District Supervisor Peter Adam said the county should interpret this framework liberally or outright defy it to open the county sooner than later. He added that he believed continuing the existing closures would create long-lasting economic hardships that residents would endure for years.
“I think it’s void vagueness, among other things,” Adam said. “We have a responsibility to future generations to reopen this thing. And yes, some people are going to get sick and that’s unfortunate but people are going to get sick in any case, and we can’t stop that and we’re just inducing a depression, and I find that just appalling.”
Among concerns from supervisors that the county’s reopening plan will take more than a month to develop, County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato clarified that the county will allow businesses to reopen as soon as the governor OKs the move.
“We’re having the REACH plan ready, but if the governor said tomorrow you can open up because we believe all the cases have dismantled, we would certainly do that and work through it,” Miyasato said. “Again we want to get the economy going as soon as it’s safe.”
This article appears in Apr 23-30, 2020.