Newsom unveils rules governing how quickly California communities can reopen businesses

Gavin Newsom discusses his plan for the gradual reopening of California businesses during a news conference in Sacramento earlier this week. Gavin Newsom announced new coronavirus safeguards and protocols for retail stores and workplaces eligible to reopen Friday and in the weeks ahead, marking the beginning of California’s gradual easing of the stay-at-home order and attempt to rekindle a state economy ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. Newsom said earlier this week that bookstores, music stores, toy stores, florists, sporting goods retailers, clothing stores and others can reopen for curbside pickup as early as Friday, unless barred by tougher local restrictions. “We’re moving forward but we’re doing it, always, with an eye being led by the data, by the science, by public health,” Newsom said during his daily COVID-19 briefing in Sacramento. In San Luis Obispo County, for instance, a bipartisan group of mayors and other political representatives asked Newsom in a letter to allow the county to begin a “science-based, thoughtfully phased reopening of our economy.” Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham said the governor’s promise to give counties more discretion in easing restrictions appears to be such an onerous process that most areas — including San Luis Obispo, which he represents — will not qualify even if they have seen a stabilization or dramatic decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths.