Managing member at Crustacean Restaurant wears a face mask while speaking on the phone at the restaurant. | AP Photo
OAKLAND — Californians could attend church services and get their hair trimmed in the coming weeks, while the vast majority of counties can allow restaurant dining soon, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday as he eased reopening standards due to continued improvements in California’s coronavirus trend lines.
The governor cited declining hospitalization and intensive care unit rates as indicators that California can move deeper into its nascent economic reopening. Newsom said the state is prepared to allow roughly 53 of 58 counties to enter the next phase of reopening, which include restaurant dining and in-store shopping with social distancing recommendations.
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Newsom also said California could allow pro sporting events to resume by June, although games would be without spectators and with “very prescriptive conditions.” In the preceding months, Newsom has been wary of major sporting events functioning as hubs for transmission.
Newsom also said relief could come to reeling cosmeticians and shaggy-headed residents in the weeks ahead if the trend lines of declining cases hold. His reopening framework put cosmetology services in a later phase, after manufacturing and curbside retail, but Newsom said encouraging numbers could accelerate the process.
Churches and other religious institutions could also start welcoming back the faithful for in-person services in the coming weeks, Newsom said, if trend lines hold. Defiant religious leaders have opened their doors and sued Newsom for halting such services.
Under the new regional guidelines, counties would need a test positivity rate of less than 8 percent or a rate of 25 cases per 100,000 residents or less. Newsom said the state would account for “hot spots within counties” like skilled-nursing facilities that are often viral epicenters driving up counties’ overall numbers.
Newsom did not name the five counties that would remain ineligible, but said he believes Los Angeles will be more cautious.
“We are empowering our local health directors and county officials,” Newsom said, noting that areas with more dire outbreaks like Los Angeles and the Bay Area can retain tougher controls.
