Coronavirus deaths in California near 3,000 as reopenings continue

California will likely surpass 3,000 coronavirus-linked deaths and could top 75,000 confirmed cases by the end of the day.

Despite the steady increase in the number of COVID-19 infections and fatalities, the state is starting to cautiously lift restrictions put in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

The result has been a pandemic patchwork.

Some businesses have been allowed to open while others remain shuttered. A few areas are requiring masks to be worn anytime residents leave their homes. More than a dozen counties are moving toward something resembling normalcy, while others are firmly standing by stay-at-home orders and other coronavirus restrictions.

As California moves into what Gov. Gavin Newsom has deemed Phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan, it has become possible for counties to go further in terms of opening businesses, provided they meet certain criteria.

Newsom said this week that restaurants and shopping malls can reopen in counties that meet state standards for testing and reductions in coronavirus cases, but all businesses will have to abide by state guidelines for physical distancing and cleaning regimens. Counties also must have adequate testing and hospital capacity and the ability to trace those who have been in contact with ill people.

Before businesses can reopen, a county must complete a risk assessment and develop protection plans that include training employees in how to limit the spread of the virus, providing screenings of workers and establishing disinfection protocols and physical-distancing guidelines.

Although the state’s phased reopening started Friday — with clothing stores, sporting goods retailers, bookstores, music stores, toy stores and florists able to provide curbside service — only more rural, less-populated reaches of the state have successfully petitioned to open faster.

As of Thursday morning, the state said 18 counties had met conditions to reopen more fully: Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lassen, Nevada, Mariposa, Placer, Plumas, San Benito, Shasta, Sierra, Sutter, Tehama, Tuolumne and Yuba.

The benchmarks necessary to reopen remain out of reach for most urban areas. A Times data analysis last week found that 95% of Californians live in counties that don’t meet two key thresholds: a cessation of COVID-19 deaths in the previous 14 days and no more than one case per 10,000 residents in that same period.

In Los Angeles County, which remains the hotbed of California’s coronavirus outbreak, officials are allowing the limited reopening of thousands more retail shops and manufacturing companies, even while extending the local stay-at-home order indefinitely.

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti also announced Wednesday evening that all Angelenos, except for small children and those with certain disabilities, would be required to wear face coverings outside their homes.

Other urban Southern California counties — Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego — are working to forge a coalition to jointly lobby Newsom so they can further reopen their local economies.

Officials in Orange County, which will unveil a potential road map for lifting some coronavirus-related restrictions Thursday, have said the state’s criteria for more fully reopening is overly burdensome and unrealistic for urbanized areas.

“We are doing this because, even though the governor has said one size doesn’t fit all, he is very much imposing a one-size-fits-all response,” county Supervisor Don Wagner said Tuesday.

The San Francisco Bay Area, where local health officers have largely worked in concert throughout the coronavirus outbreak, is also starting to see some divergence.

At least three counties — San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin — plan to incrementally ease their social distancing restrictions starting Monday. Santa Clara County has said it has no immediate plans to do so.

Newsom has hinted that the statewide guidelines will be modified to allow larger counties hit hardest by the outbreak to reopen more broadly.

“Over the next few weeks, we’ll be making subsequent announcements for the entire state, not just those that meet those more restrictive criteria,” he said Friday.

Times staff writers Colleen Shalby, Susanne Rust, Maura Dolan, Rong-Gong Lin II, Kailyn Brown and Sarah Parvini contributed to this report.

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