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San Luis Obispo County START Guide will not move to Phase 1 on Friday

SLO Coronavirus Generic
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif - After the State's announcement to move to "early Stage 2" of reopening, San Luis Obispo County officials say this will not authorize the County to move to Phase 1 of the START Guide, the County plan to reopen.

The County can reopen if three things happen:

  1. the State lift or modifies the Shelter at Home order
  2. the State allows for local control
  3. the County issues another executive order moving to Phase 1

Though the State has announced "regional variation," to reopening on Friday, local officials have not given over local control.

“It’s unclear whether the State will give us the latitude to move forward in our own measured
way with the approach outlined in our START Guide,” said County Public Health Officer, Dr.
Penny Borenstein. “This is very disappointing because our community is ready to move
forward. We continue to advocate and plan for local control and will revise our START Guide, as
promised.”

A new executive order will be issued on Friday, allowing retail businesses to open only with curbside pickup and delivery. It's unclear if SLO County will be allowed to do anything beyond that order come Friday.

In the meantime, County officials are developing a new parallel executive order.

“We had hoped we could enter our START Guide’s Phase 1 to allow for more openings, namely
faith-based services, salons, and parts of our gyms, but we can’t do that yet,” Borenstein said.
“We will continue to reconcile our Executive Order with the State’s proposed plan and actions as
more details become available.”

The START Guide released last week shows the County's plan and desire to reopen, but the State's plan supersedes any local desires.

“We appreciate the State’s efforts to move toward reopening, but we would like authorization to
move forward with our approach as outlined in the START Guide,” said County Administrative
Officer and Emergency Services Director Wade Horton.

Article Topic Follows: Coronavirus

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Katie Karl

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