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Reopening San Diego businesses once again: too restrictive or 'insanity'?

New guidelines by San Diego County and the state try to strike a balance between maintaining public health and a healthy economy.

SAN DIEGO — As San Diego County businesses got the go-ahead to once again reopen Monday for the second time in less than three months, some questioned if this is a good move based on the spike in COVID cases we saw earlier this summer. 

Some business owners though, see the state's new guidelines to safely open the economy back up as entirely too restrictive. 

Following the county's move to reopen back in June, San Diego saw a spike in coronavirus cases follow, which led to the county then closing down those businesses and the state placing the county on its watch list.

The goal now, as we embark on a new set of guidelines, is to avoid a repeat of that at all costs.

"We all know what the definition of insanity is," said Dr. Wilma Wooten at Monday's county public health briefing,. 

Namely, it is defined as doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.

This has led some to question if the county's move to re-open indoor service at most businesses, under the state's new four-tiered, color-coded guidelines, is in a sense "insane," based on recent history with reopening the economy in June.

"We can't gun the engine of the economy and go full speed ahead like nothing has happened," cautioned County Supervisor Greg Cox. 

Supervisor Nathan Fletcher pointed out the differences between now and the reopenings earlier this summer.     

"We have a higher case count and more community spread now than we did then in June," he said. 

County leaders stressed the need to take precautions, from face coverings to physical distancing to good hygiene, more seriously than ever.

"It is going to take an indescribable vigilance and effort on the part of every San Diegan," Fletcher added. 

San Diego county's public health officer, Wooten, pointed out what is different under this updated guidance from the state

"This is a new approach," she said, "a gradual approach."

Specifically, there is now a restricted number of guests allowed into most businesses. 

Businesses including movie theaters, gyms, museums, and hair and nail salons resumed indoor operations Monday, with modifications, under newly issued state guidance. Restaurants, places of worship, and movie theaters are only allowed up to 25% occupancy or 100 people -- whichever is less. Museums, zoos, and aquariums are also required not to exceed 25% occupancy.

Gyms, dance studios, yoga studios and fitness centers may operate with 10% occupancy. Hair salons, barbershops, tattoo parlors, piercing shops, skincare and cosmetology services, and nail salons may operate indoors with normal capacity, however, a new policy states they must keep an appointment book with names and contact information for customers to track potential future outbreaks.

These are limits that many local businesses find too restrictive.

"I guess 25% is better than nothing, but nothing is nothing as well because I can't pay my rent with 25%," said Thomas Hall, general manager of Grass Skirt, a restaurant in Pacific Beach. "So honestly, it's like a lose-lose situation for all of us."

Dr. Wooten also pointed out how the county is imposing even greater restrictions than the state's current guidance, such as requiring in-door guests at restaurants to wear facial coverings at all times, except when eating or drinking.

"If people do not do that we are asking them to do  we will find ourselves in the very same situation that we were in in mid-July," Dr. Wooten added. 

Dr. Wooten also said the county would follow state guidelines that retail businesses are to be restricted to 50% occupancy. Wooten said she was seeking clarification on grocery stores for the same restriction.

All indoor businesses must still abide by social distancing and face-covering mandates, as well as having a detailed safe reopening plan on file with the county.

The county is also now requiring some businesses, like restaurants and salons, to keep a log or registry of their guests with names and contact phone numbers, in order to help facilitate contact tracing in case of an outbreak at that businesses down the road.

Also on Monday, San Diego County public health officials reported 304 new COVID-19 cases, raising the county's cumulative cases to 38,604 while multiple industries reopened some indoor operations under new state guidelines.

No new deaths were reported, keeping the county's deaths tied to the illness at 682. Of 5,731 tests reported Monday, 5% returned positive, raising the county's 14-day rolling positive testing rate to 3.7%, well below the state's 8% guideline. The seven-day average number of tests performed in the county is 6,543.

San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox thanked San Diegans for working hard to bring the case rate down but offered a word of measured caution on Monday.

"This is not a green light, this is a yellow light," he said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom released the new state system Friday that sorts counties into one of four tiers based on the extent of the area's COVID-19 outbreak.

Wooten said San Diego County had made it to the second tier, the only county in Southern California to earn that designation. The county still has a "substantial" COVID-19 presence, but unlike Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles and Imperial counties it is not considered "widespread."

The two metrics the state was monitoring in that tier list include an old one -- the percentage of positive tests -- and a new one -- the number of daily new cases per 100,000 people. San Diego County is at 3.8% and 5.8 per 100,000 respectively. To make it to the next tier, the county must show rates of between 2% and 4.9% positive tests and between 1 and 3.9 new daily cases per 100,000 population.

There is a 21-day mandatory wait time before any county can move between tiers, and a county must meet the metrics for the next tier for two straight weeks. Also, a county may only move one tier at a time. The state will monitor the data weekly, with results announced Tuesdays.

On Monday, San Diego State University reported another 13 students, some of whom live in campus housing, have tested positive for COVID-19. They join seven other students who tested positive for the illness last week. None of the students have attended any in-person classes.

An SDSU statement said the university had taken direct action with the students who live in university-owned housing.

"Three of the cases live on-campus at Zapotec, Villa Alvarado Apartments and South Campus Plaza North," the statement said. "Two on-campus students have been moved to a designated isolation room, per SDSU's Office of Housing Administration COVID-19 protocol. The other student was already isolating away from campus, prior to seeking testing this weekend. All are recovering well."

A total of 31 SDSU students have contracted COVID-19 since March.

San Diego County schools will be allowed to reopen Tuesday, depending on individual school district policies.

Of the total positive cases in the county, 3,111 -- or 8.1% -- have required hospitalization since the pandemic began, and 750 -- or 1.9% -- were admitted to an intensive care unit.

County health officials reported two new community outbreaks Monday, bringing the number of outbreaks in the past week to 16.

The number of community outbreaks remains well above the county's goal of fewer than seven in a seven-day span. A community setting outbreak is defined as three or more COVID-19 cases in a setting and in people of different households in the past 14 days.

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