Governor Newsom has announced that the second phase of reopening California will start during the week of May 4. If they follow the new guidelines, businesses such as clothing stores, toy stores, bookstores, music shops, and florists will be able to open. Other businesses in which it would be difficult to enforce social distancing guidelines, such as dine-in restaurants, offices, and malls will need to wait longer before reopening, so as to contain the spread of the virus.
6 Bay Area counties, namely Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco and San Mateo, have opened certain businesses, and establishments such as car washes and nurseries have recently been seeing a lot of traffic. However, the Governor has reported that it is the responsibility of high-risk areas to manage the opening of businesses, and that the reopening timeline may look different for different regions in the state.
Quarantine fatigue, a phenomenon in which people don't follow proper guidelines to restrict the spread of the coronavirus, is causing cases to spike in California. In particular, May 5th saw the largest one day increase in cases in the state since the beginning of the outbreak, with around 2,500 new cases reported.
In order to combat the spread of the virus, the Bay Area will be opening new testing centers; Governor Newsom has proposed the establishment 80 new testing centers throughout the state. Centers at James Lick High School and and Christopher High School in Santa Clara County will be opening this week, with the capacity of 130 daily tests, and centers in San Rafael, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Sonoma County, and at the PAL Stadium in San Jose will open soon.
In other news, face coverings will now be required at the Mineta San Jose International Airport, Santa Cruz County deputies have been issuing citations for violations of the shelter-in-place order, and Santa Clara has cancelled its 4th of July Picnic.
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