CALIFORNIA, USA — At noon on Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom gave a COVID-19 update for California.
Newsom began by acknowledging the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
"This state is in so many respects, America’s coming attraction,” said Newsom of California's commitment to diversity.
Newsom said his wife, the First Partner of California, said America's predominant values of power, dominance, and aggression have led to violence against people of color.
Newsom also referred an incident in La Mesa.
“Incident down in San Diego - young man on a bench,” said Newsom.
On the subject of COVID-19, Newsom stressed localism, saying that the state of California gives out guidelines on how to reopen. Then, it's up to a county's respective public health officers to decide when to open based on data.
"Localism is determinative," Newsom said.
According to Newsom, 48 out of 58 California counties are moving through this process quicker, while other communities with certain needs and more cases are choosing to move slower at this time.
Dr. Mark Ghaly said Imperial County has seen a particularly high number of cases, but that the state is making progress.
“Because of your extraordinary work - 40 million of you - we bought time,” said Newsom.
At 3 p.m., Gov. Gavin Newsom and other elected officials will meet by Zoom with the five co-founders of Nailing It For America, a volunteer organization of nail salon owners and technicians. The group will discuss plans to safely reopen nail salons as part of the wave of Stage 3 reopenings.
The news briefings come after Los Angeles County restaurants learned they could soon reopen for limited dine-in service, as could hair salons, with the state Friday morning approving the county's request to move deeper into California's roadmap for restarting the economy.
Los Angeles -- home to roughly half of the state's coronavirus cases and deaths -- had been one of only about a dozen California counties not to have received a "variance" from the state allowing more types of businesses to reopen.
The variances are granted based on a list of criteria, including infection rates, hospital capacity, testing availability and ability to trace contacts of infected residents.
County health officials noted this week that while case numbers and deaths continue to rise, infection and hospitalization rates have been trending downward.
With the state on Friday granting the variance, it will now be up to the county to amend its health order and provide guidelines for the resumption of dine-in service at restaurants and for hair salons to reopen.
County officials will likely address the issue during a scheduled Friday afternoon COVID-19 briefing.
Other Southern California counties, including Orange, Riverside and San Diego, received variances last week, and restaurants were permitted to open there with a series of health restrictions -- such as limited capacity, required social distancing and face coverings for staff and customers.
