Orange County has been approved to start reopening a lot more local businesses. The county has joined 45 other counties with the ability to reopen in-restaurant dining and indoor dining as well as casual shopping.

By opening these businesses, Orange County government hopes to promote confidence for business owners, especially with the arrests and fines that have come out of opening businesses against the law, that they can open safely as soon as possible without having to be worried about the state’s stay-at-home order. They were very hopeful that retailers would be reopening before Memorial Day, but businesses had to get plans and precautions in place.

There are state laws and guidelines for all businesses depending on their industry that each business has to look through and plan according to. There are actually checklists, again depending on their industry, to go through before getting the business into action. They need to provide a risk-assessment, a protection plan, and employees trained on limiting virus spread, implemented screenings, disinfecting protocols, and physical distancing guidelines.

The economy has taken a huge hit from COVID-19, and business have taken a huge hit as well. This is a move so that they are able to continue conducting business while bringing up as few problems, concerning the virus, as possible. The state does require training and testing for all employees before they get back to work.

Newport Beach’s city Council has a plan to meet this week to figure out an emergency ordinance to get outdoor dining up and running again so that other businesses could get some momentum and get as close to the old normal as they can. They will be talking about a proposal about temporary permits for takeout windows, curbside pickup zones, and things of the like— as well as expand their outdoor operations.

It is required as a health order to wear cloth face coverings when in a public place, at work or going to a business, or if one cannot be 6 feet away from another. With all of that, there are even more mandates. Those who are likely to have coronavirus are to be self-isolated for at least three days after they recover and ten days after their symptoms first appeared or were tested positively. Any of those who have been in contact with a person who has or is likely to have coronavirus must self-quarantine for at least 2 weeks from the last day they were in contact.

All of these are to control and reduce the spread of COVID-19, health issues incited by the pandemic need action against. Action against that has been taken, but there needs to be more action in the economic sense because that is spiraling as well. The more expansive reopening has a requirement of less than 8% of residents tested for the virus over a week period. They got 7.95%, and so Orange County is back in business, and there have been 12 new deaths to the virus and their death toll has increased to 130.

Sponsored Content