New Health Order Comes Friday. “Getting People Back to Work a Priority” Says Mase.

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In her daily briefing to reporters, Sonoma County’s public health officer Dr. Sundari Mase said a new public health order to be issued Friday that will extend shelter-in-place will also begin a phased reopening of the economy, with “getting people back to work a priority” in the weeks ahead.

Mase said the order arriving Friday would closely follow California guidance. Earlier this week, Governor Gavin Newsom laid out a 4 stage plan for reopening the state’s economy, while also keeping new virus infections in check. That plan relys heavily on conducting more extensive testing, contact tracing, protection of vunerable populations, and putting in place workplace rules to mandate social distancing and work from home.

On Friday, Mase is expected to allow more outdoor and low public contact businesses sectors to reopen, such as nurseries, real estate, landscaping, florist shops and other businesses considered low risk. This strategy closely follow state guidelines and is considered an entry point to a gradual, step by step plan to reopen the state economy.

Although some rural areas of California have pressured the governor to reopen more quickly, citing few virus cases, Newsom has so far resisted allowing parts of the state to reopen more quickly than others. On Thursday he cited the examples of Singapore and other Asian countries that have seen a resurgance of coronavirus cases that coincided with the reopening of business and social activities.

When asked, Mase said Sonoma County is much like the Bay Area, with far more cases than more rural parts of the state, and would be cautious in reopening while ramping up levels of local testing and contact tracing necessary to track new cases as they arise.