Coronavirus in rural America (Part XXXXIV): Re-opening California

Gavin Newsom announced today that two counties, both rural by some measures, have met the guideposts for-reopening.  The counties are Butte and El Dorado, north and east of Sacramento County so what most call "northern California," but actually more like central California if you look at where they are on the map.  El Dorado County, population 181.058, is a metropolitan county and part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area, and Butte County, population 220,000 is the most populous county north of Sacramento.  Here's an excerpt from the Los Angeles Times coverage by Patrick McGreevy: 

Before businesses can reopen, a county must complete a risk assessment and develop protection plans that include training employees in how to limit the spread of the virus, providing screenings of employees, disinfectant protocols and physical-distancing guidelines.

Newsom said rural Butte and El Dorado counties are the first two of California’s 58 counties to have met the state’s conditions for additional businesses to reopen. 

“There are some unique characteristics in some counties where they are hitting on all cylinders,” Newsom said, adding two other counties may be able to reopen more businesses later Tuesday.

Last week, the Newsom administration warned rural counties that were defying the state’s stay-at-home order that they could lose disaster funding if they don’t abide by the state’s restrictions. 

Yuba, Sutter and Modoc counties all received warning letters after they relaxed restrictions that had closed gyms, restaurants, shopping malls, hair salons and other businesses.

Post script:  In fact, several other counties were approved for reopening after this story ran on Tuesday.  They are all relatively nonmetro:   Lassen, Nevada, Placer, Amador and Shasta.  Of those, Placer and Amador are contiguous to Sacramento County, and Nevada County is just one county over and quite economically embedded with the Sacramento Metropolitan Area.  Shasta County is the second most populous county north of Sacramento, and Lassen County is a sparsely populated nonmetro county adjacent to it.