Ready, Set, Go! California's Economy Reopens June 15
May 24, 2021 03:24PM ● By Pam Kessler
In under three weeks, California will return to the closest thing to normal since the pandemic began. The guidelines issued by the state’s Department of Public Health last Friday put an end to social distancing, mask requirements, and limited business capacities except at mega-events—5,000 people indoors or 10,000 outdoors.
“We’re at a place where requirements of the past are no longer needed for the foreseeable future,” said Mark Ghaly, the state’s secretary of health and human services. “All sectors in the current Blueprint Activities and Business Tiers Chart may return to usual.
But when all capacity, masks, and social distancing restrictions get dropped, will everything return to normal overnight? Some county public health officials told the SF Chronicle they hope not. Even in Marin, with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, doctors are worried about what will happen when everything from churches to grocery stores returns to full capacity. While Contra Costa Public Health has not issued a statement on its plans for June 15, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The website indicates Contra Costa has achieved its May 31 goal (early) of one million vaccines.
Anyone age 12 and older, who lives or works in Contra Costa County, can schedule a free COVID-19 vaccination appointment. Beginning late May, community vaccination sites will open at nearly 20 schools in Contra Costa County, including Las Lomas & Acalanes high schools. No appointment is necessary, open to all ages, at no charge.
Meanwhile in San Francisco, Mayor London Breed proposed a $9.5 million investment in a Downtown Recovery Plan aimed at bringing workers and tourists back. “Downtown is the economic engine of San Francisco,” Breed said at a Tuesday press conference. “It’s so important that as we begin to reopen, that we are reimagining what downtown can be. We have to make it a safe place for people who live and work here.”
But when all capacity, masks, and social distancing restrictions get dropped, will everything return to normal overnight? Some county public health officials told the SF Chronicle they hope not. Even in Marin, with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, doctors are worried about what will happen when everything from churches to grocery stores returns to full capacity. While Contra Costa Public Health has not issued a statement on its plans for June 15, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The website indicates Contra Costa has achieved its May 31 goal (early) of one million vaccines.
Anyone age 12 and older, who lives or works in Contra Costa County, can schedule a free COVID-19 vaccination appointment. Beginning late May, community vaccination sites will open at nearly 20 schools in Contra Costa County, including Las Lomas & Acalanes high schools. No appointment is necessary, open to all ages, at no charge.
Meanwhile in San Francisco, Mayor London Breed proposed a $9.5 million investment in a Downtown Recovery Plan aimed at bringing workers and tourists back. “Downtown is the economic engine of San Francisco,” Breed said at a Tuesday press conference. “It’s so important that as we begin to reopen, that we are reimagining what downtown can be. We have to make it a safe place for people who live and work here.”
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