SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — As the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19 continues, Santa Clara County residents will soon see changes to shelter-in-place orders allowing multiple businesses and activities to resume.
Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody announced Monday starting Friday in-store retail, limited outdoor dinning at restaurants, limited in-store shopping at retail locations, all manufacturing, small businesses, childcare and summer programs, along with religious, cultural and civic activities will be allowed to resume.
“As a community and as a nation, we are experiencing some of the most difficult and challenging times many of us have ever experienced,” Cody said.
“The COVID-19 virus has had an impact on every aspect of our lives. It has been particularly devastating to low-income communities and communities of color in our county and across our state and nation. This has been compounded by structural inequities that exist in our society that are unjust, persistent, and damaging,”
Other services/activities allowed to resume:
- No-contact in-home service such as house cleaning and shoe repair shops.
- All children are now permitted to take part in childcare, summer camps, summer school, educational programs and recreational programs as long as groups are limited to 12 or fewer.
- Outdoor gatherings of 25 people will be allowed for religious services and cultural ceremonies.
- Outdoor recreational activities that do not involve physical contact and adhere to social distancing protocols such as swimming pools
- Car-based gatherings inlcuding drive-in theaters.
As Santa Clara County loosens its shelter-in-place restrictions the county will continue to monitor and take proper precautions to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the community despite currently no known cure or vaccine for the virus.
According to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department testing is steadily increasing as the positivity rates continue to decrease across the county in communities where people are at greatest risk — including outbreak locations at skilled nursing facilities have been successfully contained.
Hospitals throughout the county continue to see low and steady rates of hospitalizations as case investigations and contact tracing capacity increases allowing them to stay ahead of demand.
Monday’s announcement is in addition to previous changes to shelter-in-place orders permitting retail businesses to open for curbside pick up and outdoor businesses such as construction to resume with health and safety precautions put in place.
Santa Clara County Public Health Department also announced it will continue to work closely with low-income communities and the many ethnic groups throughout the county to address their needs for testing, safe isolation, work safety and prevention of the spread of COVID-19.
“The global pandemic is ongoing, and we must continue to protect the health and wellbeing of our entire community, especially those most vulnerable to serious illness and death from COVID-19,” Cody said.
“Public Health is about ensuring health in every sense of the word: from diseases like COVID-19, and from social and economic impacts on health too. For all those reasons, we have chosen to be measured in how and when we reopen.”
To learn more regarding Santa Clara County’s shelter-in-place orders click here.