As counties throughout the North State continue to move further into Stage Two of reopening, we’ve been checking in to see how plans are progressing.
On Thursday, NSPR’s Marc Albert spoke with Kerri Schuette, spokesperson for Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency, about what businesses are being allowed to reopen and what’s being done to ensure safety. Here are highlights from their conversation.
Interview Highlights
On what’s opening as the county moves further into Stage Two
Businesses that are allowed to be open now, all with modifications — I want to make sure that's very clear — is retail businesses, shopping malls, dine-in restaurants, car washes, pet grooming, tanning facilities, office-based businesses (although we are still encouraging folks to telework if they can), outdoor museums and galleries and childcare facilities. Not allowed open yet include nail salons, tattoo parlors, gyms and fitness studios, bars, lounges and nightclubs, movie theaters, state gaming facilities, indoor museums, libraries, community centers, pools, playgrounds, religious service, concert venues, festivals, hair salons, and, of course any mass gatherings that are prohibited statewide.
On what changes business are being asked to make in order to operate
We have guidance on our website, ShastaReady.org, that lists all of the industries that are open now. It's state guidance that we have adapted and link to on our website. But our retail businesses, dine-in restaurants, all of these different places are needing to modify their businesses to help ensure social distancing and all of those things that are necessary to keep the employees and the customers safe.
On how businesses and the community are feeling about reopening
I don't know how local businesses are feeling. It seems that the vibe in our community is that people are happy to be able to go in and sit down at a restaurant and enjoy a meal. It's not something we've been able to do for quite some time, and there's definitely a sense of excitement about it. And hopefully we'll be able to continue moving forward.
It is really important that everybody continues to follow the guidelines. I know that it's not a real easy thing to do sometimes. But if we can continue to keep our case numbers low, we can continue to move forward in this process. We've been telling people that this is in no way, a one-way street. If we see a huge spike in cases, a lot of hospitalizations, we may need to take a step back. So I think people are really committed to doing things the right way following the rules so we can continue moving forward.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Click the “play” button to listen to the entire interview.
