California Gov. Newsom reveals 12-point checklist he says has to be in place before the state reopens and restaurants can accept people again – but only if they have fewer tables
- California was able to aggressively slow the spread of the virus with social distancing
- Newsom, like other governors, is forming his own plan to reopen his state
- On Tuesday he told people to expect face coverings to be widespread when he does
- He also said restaurants would be open but only if they had fewer tables in them
- The checklist however raises issues including testing, the elderly, contact tracing and hospital capacity
- He also said the state had to be prepared to ‘quickly’ reinstate the lockdown if the numbers tick up again
- California has 24,422 cases of coronavirus and 732 people have died
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday revealed a 12-point list of questions the state must have answers for before it can reopen at reduced capacity.
Newsom said that the state had been able to ‘buy time’ with social distancing, it must anticipate a virus peak ‘some time in the future’.
‘As we contemplate reopening parts of our state, we must be guided by science and data, and we must understand that things will look different than before.’
He then unveiled a collection of slides with questions the state would have to address before it reopened.
They included 12 questions;
1) How prepared is our state to test everyone who is symptomatic?
2) Do we have the ability to identify contacts of those who are positive to reduce further transmission?
3) Are older Californians and the medically vulnerable living in their own homes supported so they can continue appropriate physical distancing?
4) Have we developed a plan to quickly identify and contain outbreaks in facilities housing older Californians, those living with disabilities, those currently incarcerated, and those with co-morbidities?
5) Do we have adequate bed capacity, staff and supplies such as ventilators and masks?
6) Can our healthcare system adequately address COVID-19 and other critical healthcare needs?
7) Have we built a coalition of private, public and academic partners to accelerate the development of therapeutics?
8) Have we identified potential therapeutics that have shown promise?
9) Have we worked with businesses to support physical distancing practices and introduced guidelines to provide health checks when employees or the general public enter the premises?
10) Do we have supplies and equipment to keep the workforce and customers safe?
11) Are we tracking the right data to provide us an early warning system?
12) Do we have the ability to quickly communicate the need to reinstate these measures?
Only then, would the state reopen.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the questions that would have to be answered on Tuesday
Newsom said it would also look ‘different’ to how things were before the lockdown.
‘Restaurants will likely reopen with fewer tables. Face coverings will likely be common in public.
‘New opportunities will likely arise to support mitigation,’ his slides said.
California is among the states that have broken with President Trump to set up their own reopening plan.
He has joined with other west coast states, Washington and Oregon.
It came after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday revealed he and five other east coast states had formed a ‘council’ to tackle the pandemic.
‘California, Oregon and Washington have agreed to work together on a shared approach for reopening our economies – one that identifies clear indicators for communities to restart public life and business,’ the governors said in a joint statements.
The nine states combined account for more than 98 million people, close to 30 per cent of the population of the U.S., and more than 30 per cent of GDP.