LOS ANGELES — Modoc County, which has fewer than 9,000 residents and reported zero coronavirus cases, is set to become the first county in California to ease stay-at-home rules Friday, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s urging to keep them in place for now.
The remote county in far Northern California announced that businesses, schools and churches may reopen starting Friday, as long as people stay 6 feet apart.
“Our businesses are dying and people need to be able to feed their children and pay their rent,” said Heather Hadwick, the deputy director of the county’s Office of Emergency Services. “We live a different life than the rest of California. We’re very rural and naturally socially distanced in our everyday lives.”
Modoc County, which borders Oregon and Nevada, is one of the least-populated counties in the state, with fewer than 9,000 residents.
“The health and safety of Modoc County residents is and continues to be our number one priority. This reopening plan was made in the best interest of residents’ physical, mental and economic health,” the statement said.
Restaurants and bars will be allowed to host diners, but only at half the businesses’ capacity. Seniors 65 and older and residents with underlying health conditions will still be required to stay home except to conduct essential business, and large gatherings where people cannot stay 6 feet apart will still be banned.
Modoc County is one of four California counties that have not reported a single case of coronavirus infection.
“This is a plan, this is not an order,” the Modoc County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “This is simply what we are proposing that is eligible to open if preventative measures are possible. We want the option to be given to business owners so that when they feel the time is right, they can make that decision. … We need to do this in a smart and strategic way to keep us all healthy.”
Officials have said maintaining public health will be a top priority.
“We’re doing it very strategically and in stages just as the governor is recommending and we feel confident in that,” Modoc County Sheriff Tex Dowdy told KRCR-TV News. “The county in itself, the businesses are moving forward without us, so it was in our best interest to get some framework out there and some guidelines for them to follow.”
Restaurant owner Jodie Larranaga told The Associated Press that employees were preparing to open Friday and sending out word to customers.
“My bar tables are already far apart. But if people pull their stools together, I’m not going to stop them,” said Larranaga, who owns the Brass Rail. “As far as I’m concerned, right or wrong, that’s their choice. They are adults.”
Newsom again urged Californians on Wednesday to stay home and practice physical distancing, saying they should avoid spoiling the progress the state has made in the coronavirus fight as he prepares to allow some businesses to reopen gradually.
“Why put ourselves in that position when we are just a week or two away from significant modifications of our stay-at-home (order), where we can begin a Phase 2, beginning to reopen sectors of our economy that are low risk?” Newsom said.
This week, the governor unveiled the broad outline of a plan to slowly ease restrictions on Californians in four stages in the weeks and months ahead. He also announced that schools could potentially reopen in July or early August, which caught some educators off-guard.
Newsom introduced the four-phase plan two weeks after he unveiled six criteria California must meet before gradually lifting restrictions — including more widespread testing, increased hospital capacity and having plans in place to safely reopen businesses as well as prevent and prepare for the possibility of a second wave of infections.
He has not offered a specific timeline for the changes to be implemented.
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