SACRAMENTO – Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) issued the following statement after Governor Newsom announced new modifications to the Stay-At-Home order to accelerate reopening:
“Over the last several weeks, I have worked with local leaders and submitted numerous requests to the Governor to make critical modifications to the Stay-At-Home Order. The Governor’s original ‘one-size-fits-all’ plan unfairly places Kern, Tulare, and San Bernardino counties on the same spectrum as San Francisco and Los Angeles counties.
“I want to thank the governor for making such an important modification as it is necessary to revive our local economies, support businesses, and employ Californians,” said Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove.
BACKGROUND:
Out of 58 counties, 53 counties including Kern County, are eligible to apply to accelerate within Stage 2 under new rules by the State. Those new guidelines include counties cannot have hospitalization rates increase more than 5 percent over seven days and have less than 25 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the last 14 days are eligible. Kern County has announced it meets this new criteria and will be able to apply for regional variance to accelerate further into California’s Stage 2 of reopening following the Kern County Board of Supervisors approval of the request.
On May 2, Kern County Public Health Agency rescinded a local order which was the first step in preparing the local region to reopen in a quicker manner. On April 30 in a letter addressed to Governor Newsom, Leader Grove joined Kern County supervisors and Taft Mayor Dave Noerr in urging the governor to modify the state’s stay-at-home order for regions with low-level COVID-19 activity. Kern County Board of Supervisors is scheduled for a board vote as early as Tuesday to approve the county’s readiness plan which the State will post online.