In his daily coronavirus briefing, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the guidelines for moving California into Phase Two or re-opening the state.
Before going into details on the Phase Two guidelines, Newsom explained that after having a $6 billion budget surplus just 90 days ago, the state now faces a budget shortfall in the "10s of billions of dollars." Newsom explained that though the state will do everything it is responsible to do to eliminate the shortfall, California will need the help of the federal government.
"We cannot do it alone," he said.
He emphasized that this situation was not a red state vs. blue state situation, but one about "human beings needing government during a time of great stress."
Newsom then explained that starting Friday, business sectors can begin moving into Phase Two of re-opening. This decision was based on input from the state's task force, which included 33 modifications to the original guidelines.
This decision was based on "science, data and public health."
Dr. Mark Ghaly with the California Department of Health then laid out the guidelines that individual counties will need to meet in order to move further into Phase Two or re-opening.
Among the requirements that counties and regions much attain in order to move further into Phase Two and beyond include:
- No more than 1 case per 10,000 people in the last 14 days
- No deaths in the last 14 days
- The ability to conduct daily testing of 1.5 per 1,000 residents
- The ability to support employees when sick or exposed to COVID-19
- At least 15 contact tracers per 100,000 residents
- The ability to temporarily house at least 15% of the county or region's homeless
- The ability to handle a hospital surge of 35% of capacity
- A plan to protect the hospital workforce
- A 14 day supply of PPE on-hand for skilled nursing facilities
- The ability to review metrics to serve as triggers for adjusting modifications
Newsom emphasized that this does not mean a return to normal, that COVID-19 is still spreading and the state can only continue opening and moving into additional phases when the risk of spreading can be reduced.
The state will release complete details on the guidelines at a later time. 23ABC will provide the complete guidelines when they are made available.
