Friday’s California Governor news conference has generated some questions about counties’ current ability to move forward on reopening at their own pace. We’ve just received written confirmation from California Department of Public Health‘s health officer that, under the statewide order, a business sector is allowed to reopen only after the State has posted its guidance online at www.covid19.ca.gov AND the local health officer approves the sector to resume. The following guidance from their letter applies to counties like Placer with a variance to move more quickly through Stage 2 of the State’s reopening roadmap: “A variance county can elect to open a given sector so long as (1) the State has issued guidance for how a given sector can reopen and (2) the local health officer has provided approval for that sector to open in that locality. If the state has not yet released guidance for a sector, then that sector cannot yet be opened.”
As one of the first counties to have its attestation approved, Placer County has moved both quickly and carefully to safely reopen. We’ve reopened as many business sectors as allowed by the State order, and our Board of Supervisors has formally requested permission to move further into Stage 3 of the State’s roadmap. We’ve created our own materials for future-stage businesses to prepare for reopening based on the state guidance issued to date: https://www.placer.ca.gov/reopen/planahead
Guidance for sectors that may currently reopen in Placer County can be found at: https://www.placer.ca.gov/reopen/guidance
And visit the ‘Can I Reopen?’ page for more information: https://www.placer.ca.gov/reopen/canireopen