The state’s recent rollbacks of most counties to the purple – most restrictive – tier has raised questions among the business community about what county-specific data led to the new restrictions when numbers suggest many COVID-19 cases have resulted from social events.
“We should be having a certain micro-level approach to it, rather than a blanket approach,” Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association (CRA), told the Northern California Record. “Most businesses are taking COVID prevention very seriously, doing everything they can to mitigate the spread, but then businesses are easier to shut down than a house party.”
Under the new restrictions, a total of 32 counties have been moved back to the purple tier, requiring many retailers to operate at 20-25 percent capacity including employees. It prevents many businesses from any indoor service, leading San Diego restaurants and gyms that were in the less restrictive red tier to file a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order against the new restrictions.
Forty-five of the state’s 58 counties are now in the purple tier.
Meanwhile, following Los Angeles county’s Nov. 22 decision to close restaurants to indoor and outdoor dining, the California Restaurant Association sued to overturn the mandate, Nation's Restaurant News reported.
Even before the latest restrictions, including L.A. County’s safer-at-home order, one in three restaurants in the state were expected to close because of COVID-19. A poll by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce in August found more than half the city’s storefronts closed as a result of the pandemic, a number expected to rise.
“If there are businesses that aren’t following the rules, they should be shut down but to do a blanket closure of everything at this point is counterintuitive,” Michelin said. “Retail is not a source of superspread. I think we can do a better job at micro-targeting things that are causing the spread – and not just shutting everything down.”
Earlier in November, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced The California Rebuilding Fund, a new loan program designed to help small businesses survive the pandemic.
The California Retailers Association, California Business Roundtable, and other industry groups on Nov. 24 issued a statement calling for contact tracing data and discussion based on science in the interest of keeping the economy open and providing jobs and income for Californians.
“Surges like the one we are in right now will continue for the foreseeable future, even as hope of a vaccine is on the horizon,” the statement said. “The restrictions imposed by the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, while well-intentioned, are not sustainable for the duration of this pandemic.
“It is time to meet with industry leaders, review the data and new knowledge gained since March and create a more strategic and surgical approach to stop the spread of the virus without destroying jobs, the economy and the California Dream for millions of families. California can choose to advance both good health and a strong economy.”