SAN JOSE – NOVEMBER 23: Shoppers walk with their bags at Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)
Santa Clara County slapped fines on 181 retailers over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend that included Black Friday for failing to properly notice social distancing requirements.
County officials said they inspected 427 stores and netted more than $115,000 in fines, ranging from $250 to as much as $3,750 each, during their “enhanced Black Friday COVID-19 Business Compliance effort” that concluded Sunday. Fines may continue to accrue daily until businesses correct the violations and submit a compliance statement.
“Business compliance with the mandatory directives in the health officer’s risk reduction order is a critical element of our COVID-19 response,” said Michael Balliet, director of the county’s business compliance and enforcement unit.
The top three violations were failure to submit a social distancing protocol, failure to properly post the required social distancing protocol signage and failure to post the required capacity signage, county officials said. Those documents, officials said, help the public and employees understand what the business must do to comply with the mandatory directives and keep their workers and customers safe.
The inspections were done by the county’s business compliance unit, and many of the inspectors are from the environmental health team that routinely visits restaurants and are familiar with inspecting and working with businesses.
The inspectors visited what they knew to be traditional high-traffic areas for this time of year, and also checked for citizen complaints sent through a county website, scccovidconcerns.com.
The stepped up enforcement spanning what has traditionally been one of the biggest and most crowded shopping weekends of the year heading into the Christmas holiday comes as the county, like much of the region, state and country, battles a ferocious surge in new coronavirus infections.
Balliet had said in a statement on Black Friday that inspectors “noted few large crowds thus far,” but nonetheless had already issued a total of 76 violation notices to retailers at the time.
Santa Clara County recorded 747 new cases on Saturday, its highest daily total since the start of the pandemic early this year. Two other counties, San Francisco and San Mateo, also saw record new daily cases, as those two counties joined Santa Clara and much of the region in California’s most restrictive purple reopening tier for widespread outbreaks. Gov. Gavin Newsom signaled this week that he soon may issue a stricter stay-home order.
In the midst of their local enforcement effort, Santa Clara County officials over the weekend announced new restrictions that went into effect Monday, including a ban on contact sports and a mandatory two-week quarantine for travelers coming into the county from more than 150 miles away.
Those new Santa Clara County restrictions further curtail indoor retail occupancy to 10% of indoor capacity, less than the 25% of capacity the state requires in purple-tier counties. Grocery stores, drug stores and pharmacies may operate at 25% of capacity under the new county order.
“As cases and hospitalizations continue to rise to new record levels,” Balliet said, “we need everyone in the community to do their part to protect the health of the community.”
