COVID-19 UPDATE: BAY AREA COUNTIES FURTHER EASE RESTRICTIONS, CALIFORNIA PROVIDES NEW GUIDANCE

by Jonathan R. Babione and Alexandra P. Saddik

At both the state and local level, restrictions are starting to be eased at a quicker pace. Here are the latest updates:

California: The state has added guidance for childcare, day camps, music, film and TV production, professional sports minus live audiences, and schools at https://covid19.ca.gov/industry-guidance/. Additionally, the state released more in-depth guidance for schools at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/hn/documents/strongertogether.pdf. These businesses and government entities are now allowed to open statewide subject to more restrictive county orders.

Additionally, casinos may now open in counties that have gone through the attestation requirements—meaning that they have met certain criteria in areas such as hospitalizations, the positivity rate for COVID-19 tests, and acquisition of PPE for moving forward in the reopening process.

Effective June 12, these counties may also allow family entertainment centers and movie theaters, restaurants, wineries, and bars, zoos and museums, gyms and fitness centers, hotels for tourism and individual travel, cardrooms and racetracks, and campgrounds and outdoor recreation to open. The guidance for these sectors can be found at https://covid19.ca.gov/roadmap-counties/.

Bay Area: The following Bay Area counties have made further changes to their shelter-in-place orders:

Alameda County: Effective June 8, 2020, Alameda County, along with Berkeley (which has its own health department) allowed childcare, summer camps, and other recreational or educational programs for children to operate for all workers. Additionally, limited services such as housecleaning, pet grooming, and dog walking are now allowed to operate. Businesses that are allowed to open under the new orders for both jurisdictions must abide by the site-specific protection plans issued.

Additionally, Alameda and Berkeley have expanded their face covering orders to require everyone to wear a face covering whenever they are outside of the home and within 30 feet of other people. This rule does not apply for those with their household unit or Social Bubble (a mechanism in which members from outside the household are allowed to gather together outdoors with social distancing in a stable group that lasts at least three weeks).

More information about these orders can be found at the following links:

Alameda County: http://www.acphd.org/2019-ncov/health-officer-orders.aspx

Berkeley: https://www.cityofberkeley.info/covid19-health-orders/#health-order-2020-08; https://www.cityofberkeley.info/covid19-health-orders/#health-order-2020-09

Contra Costa County: As of June 10, 2020, Contra Costa County successfully completed the state attestation process, which means it has joined all but 6 counties in accelerating the reopening process. Currently, Contra Costa County is planning to reopen hair salons and barber shops on June 17, 2020. Indoor dining, bars, indoor religious services, gyms and fitness centers, limited indoor leisure, indoor museums, and hotels for individual tourism and travel are set to reopen July 1, 2020. These plans are subject to change depending on the health data collected by the county. Further information can be found at https://www.coronavirus.cchealth.org/health-services-updates.

Marin County: Contrary to what was previously announced, Marin County decided to let faith-based and cultural ceremony organizations to reopen on June 5, 2020 provided that they are outdoors. The county will also allow limited indoor retail and household cleaning services on June 12, 2020. Marin County is tentatively planning to allow indoor dining, hair salons, gyms and fitness studios, and hotels, motels and hospitality for leisure and tourism to reopen June 29. Furthermore, Marin County is issuing its own sector-based reopening guidance. Further information on Marin County’s timeline and guidance currently issued can be found at https://marinrecovers.com/reopening-status/ and https://marinrecovers.com/agencies/guidelines-for-businesses/ respectively.

San Francisco County: Effective June 12, 2020, restaurants can reopen for outdoor dining. On June 15, 2020, San Francisco plans to allow indoor retail, all curbside retail, manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics, non-emergency medical appointments, private indoor household services, outdoor fitness with social distancing, professional sports and other entertainment for broadcast without in-person spectators, small gatherings, including religious services and ceremonies, and offices for those unable to work remote to reopen. On July 13, 2020, San Francisco plans to allow hair salons and barber shops, indoor dining, and by appointment real estate open houses to reopen. These plans are subject to change depending on the health data collected by the county. Further information regarding San Francisco’s reopening plans and the current health orders can be found at https://sf.gov/information/reopening-san-francisco and https://www.sfdph.org/dph/alerts/coronavirus-healthorders.asp

San Mateo County: On June 4, 2020, San Mateo County announced that it would allow outdoor dining and charter boats to resume operating. Further information regarding how these businesses may resume may be found at https://www.smchealth.org/health-officer-statements-and-orders.

Santa Clara County: To date, Santa Clara County has not made any changes.

Ferber Law is continuously following up on changes surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. We are ready to assist you with any questions you may have as California continues to slowly reopen.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.