The County of Orange has been approved to reopen to Stage 2 of the state’s resiliency roadmap. This approval means in-person dining and retail shopping, with restrictions, now have the state’s greenlight in the City of Costa Mesa and all of Orange County.
Click here to read the county’s release.
Click here for the public health order from Dr. Quick at OC Health.
“The news today from our Governor is encouraging. The last two months have been unprecedented, but all of our sacrifices and hard work truly paid off,” Mayor Katrina Foley said. “I am optimistic that together we can enter a new phase of reopening our local economy in a way that is safe and restores the vitality of our amazing local businesses.”
“Our reStore Costa Mesa initiative, a public private partnership with the Chamber of Commerce, Travel Costa Mesa, the South Coast Metro Alliance, and many other businesses, has been working for weeks to ensure Costa Mesa’s businesses are ready to reopen with safety in mind,” she continued. “I am grateful for the excellent partnership with our local business community and proud of their resilience. I would also like to thank Mayor Pro Tem, John Stephens, and Council Member Andrea Marr for leading the Council’s efforts to help reopen office workplaces and community services, respectively. We all share a collective commitment to safety as we move into this new stage of our economic recovery.”
The state’s approval for the county to go to the next phase of Stage 2 means that Costa Mesa’s multitude of restaurants and fine dining, as well as shopping centers such as South Coast Plaza, the Camp, the Lab and SoCo and hundreds of smaller retail establishments can offer, with restrictions, in-person experience to diners and shoppers in addition to curbside deliveries.
Additionally, the approval allows other businesses to also reopen including:
- Personal services, limited to: car washes, pet grooming, tanning facilities and landscape gardening
- Office-based businesses (telework remains strongly encouraged)
- Outdoor museums and open gallery spaces
- Schools
Other amenities like gyms, bars, gaming areas, barbers, hair and nail salons, professional sporting events, theme parks, movie theaters, and performing arts theaters are still not permitted. Those businesses and establishments are addressed in Stage 3. The governor indicated he would provide guidance for churches to open this coming Monday May 25.
As businesses plan to reopen, they need to complete a detailed risk assessment and implement a site-specific protection plan to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19.
These plans include social distancing, sanitation, screening and prevention, minimizing physical contact during transactions and employee training.
The County of Orange Back2Business Initiative will provide up to 1,000 small businesses with free access to floor plan software to help them meet the latest social distancing requirements. For more information, click here.
Our reStore Costa Mesa and Costa Mesa’s BAC initiatives offer helpful information on preparing businesses for reopening and contain the guidelines for each industry’s state approved guidelines and checklists for reopening. Guidelines from Federal regulatory agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Cal OSHA for reopening are included on the City’s website as well. Click www.costamesabac.com to learn more.
For more information on the City of Costa Mesa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, go to www.costamesaca.gov/covid19.