Long Beach Mayor Garcia Announces the City to Allow Retail Business with Modified Operations, Proper Sanitizing, Physical Distances to Reopen

Mayor Robert Garcia announced, by email, Friday May 8, the City “will allow retail businesses, with modified operations and proper sanitizing and physical distancing protocols… to reopen for curbside pickup and delivery services only.”

The announcement is consistent with Gov. Newsom’s earlier announcement regarding the State’s reopening.

The announcement said trails, their associated parking lots will reopen; golf courses, car dealership showrooms may open, pending adherence to the City’s recommendations and safety protocols. 

It said non-essential retail businesses authorized to reopen per Governor Newsom’s direction, include: bookstores, jewelry stores, toy stores, clothing stores, shoe stores, home and furnishing stores, sporting goods stores, antique stores, music stores and florists.

California Restaurants Draft Plan, Send it to the Governor

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported Thursday, May 7, California restaurants drafted a plan to allow the industry to reopen for sit-down dining with safeguards while avoiding possible requirements imposed in other states that customers have their temperature taken or the number of tables be dramatically limited.

The recommendations, obtained by the AP, will be submitted to Gov. Gavin Newsom also on Thursday. The safeguards include: only family members or people living together would sit at the same table; buffets, salad bars and shared bread baskets won’t be allowed; salt and pepper shakers could be replaced by bottles of hand sanitizer; and meals could arrive from server And meals could arrive from food servers in face masks.

According to the AP, the California Restaurant Associated, partnering with the California Conference of Local Health Officers and the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health.  The recommendations provide a potential framework for reopening dining rooms.

The association, according to the AP, wants Newsom to set only broad guidelines regarding: employee health, social distancing, public education and improved sanitation and disinfection, allowing cities and counties to determine the rules in each category.

The AP story said, “(T)he recommendations urge local governments to consider such things as requiring temperature checks for restaurant employees, requiring mandatory handwashing schedules for workers and face coverings for employees with interact with the public” and regarding social distancing, “local jurisdictions will need to establish … measures… for keeping tables apart or setting up barriers between them, and limiting tables to family and household members … not to exceed 10 people. Restaurants could consider a phone or text-based reservation system that would not allow a customer to enter until the table is ready.”