California starts first few steps to start opening up the stalled economy.

Economic doors will start to open on Friday – Opening or closing? by Paolo Gamba is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Friday of this week, 5/8, California will take the first baby steps to revive the state’s economy. Some retail stores will be able to provide curb-side delivery of products.

I don’t quite know how many people will order clothes online in order to pick them up at a store’s curb, but that is a first step.

At least half the value of a bookstore is browsing the shelves to see what book you really have to read right but that you previously didn’t even know existed.

Well, it’s a baby step.

Several articles describe the beginning here in the state. First article describes that government officials better start opening up quick or they will find the everyone already has done so.

5/1/20 – Forbes – Apple Data Shows Shelter-In-Place Is Ending, Whether Governments Want It To Or Not – Apple and Foursquare are tracking data that show people are getting out more.

Apple data is based on requests for location.  Foursquare based on people actually being at a location.

For Germany and the US, general traffic is recovered about half from the low point. In Italy and UK there is only a little bit of recovery.

Traffic at gyms, clothing stores, furniture stores and movie theaters are still down about the same as a number of weeks ago.

Overall this shows that people are tired of being stuck at home and are venturing out a lot more than just a few weeks ago.

As the headline says, the lockdown is coming to an end.

This is consistent with news in California over the last few days, with people showing up at the beaches and apparently a large number of small localized protests insisting that our freedom of mobility be restored.

The governors and public health officials had better take into consideration that their influence is waning.

5/4/20 – Daily Bulletin – California to begin reopening at end of this week, Newsom says on Friday, 5/8/20, clothing, florist, bookstore, and sporting good stores can open but only for curbside delivery. Restaurants will continue to only offer carry out service. Offices and shopping malls will remain closed.

Businesses that are allowed to have partial operations starting Friday will get detailed instructions from the governor on Thursday on requirements for reopening. They will have one day to implement plans if they want to open when allowed.

Before any counties can move ahead they will have to meet several specific requirements. Available hospital bed, capacity to test for the virus, and plans for tracking contacts are the criteria.

As an indicator of the curve having been smoothed, article says there are around 30,000 tests being run a day in the state. In addition there over 10,000 ventilators available in the state.

5/4/20 – ABC 7 – Coronavirus: Gov. Newsom announces second phase of reopening parts of California to start as early as Friday – Article has same information as previous one discussed.

Here is more specificity on stages 2 and 3:

Stage 2 – lower risk workplaces

  • Manufacturing items such as toys, furniture, or clothing
  • Schools
  • Childcare
  • Curbside pickup for retail stores
  • Offices where remote work was impossible

Stage 3 – higher risk workplaces

  • In person religious services, which will include church worship and weddings
  • hair and nail salons
  • Gym
  • Movie theater
  • Sporting events which do not have live audiences

Stage 4 – this would be lifting the stay-at-home orders

5/5/20 – Wall Street Journal – California’s Lockdown Liberation – Editorial points out the very minor relaxation of shutdown conditions is in part a reaction to pressure on the Gov.

Half of the deaths in California have been in Los Angeles County and half of those have been in prisons or nursing homes. For that, the entire state is still on lockdown.

Fatality rate three counties is below that of 75% of other states, article points out. There have been no deaths in 15 counties. Total number infections in four counties has been three or less. Three!

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