Newsom also revealed that county leaders are considering reopening schools in late July or early August in his daily coronavirus briefing on Tuesday.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday offered some more clarity on how his state is planning to reopen its nonessential businesses, noting especially that movie theaters fall into a category that will likely take "months" to reopen.
During his daily coronavirus update, which was live-streamed on Facebook and Twitter, the governor unveiled four "stages" that businesses will each fall into. The first stage, which he said the state currently falls into, allows only essential businesses to stay open and is a period when the state only plans further business reinstatement.
The second stage, which Newsom said is "weeks, not months" away, will see "lower-risk" workplaces like nonessential manufacturing, logistics and retail jobs and offices that cannot work from home begin to reopen. Schools and childcare facilities and public spaces like parks and trails can also start reopening in "phase two."
"Phase three" will see higher-risk workplaces like movie theaters, gyms, hair salons, nail salons, in-person religious services and sports without live audiences reopen. Newsom emphasized that the third stage is "months, not weeks" away.
The final and fourth phase will entail the reopening of concert venues, conventions, sports stadiums and larger entertainment venues, which he said will "take some time" to reopen.
As Newsom focused on California's imminent turn to "phase two" of businesses reopening, he said that the state was considering opening schools as early as July or August to make up for lost in-class time. "We recognize there's been a learning loss because of this disruption. And so we are considering the prospect of an even earlier school year into the fall, as early as late July and early August," Newsom said, adding that schools would have to make major modifications to the class environment before that could happen.
When California reaches its second stage of business reinstatement, local health departments will also be able to relax stricter local orders, California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sonia Angell said during a brief presentation on Tuesday's live stream. Angell and Newsom emphasized that "community surveillance" will be critical in allowing regional health departments to vary their recommendations statewide.
The governor additionally provided his daily update on coronavirus hospitalizations, ICU visits, positive diagnoses and deaths in the state. While California's caseload overall is stabilizing, Tuesday saw 54 deaths as a result of the coronavirus, up from Monday's tally of 45. "That's roughly half of what we saw last week. It's still too many lives torn apart," Newsom said.
On Tuesday, California saw 1,576 new positive cases (up from Monday's 1,300); an increase in hospitalization of 2.5 percent (up from Monday's 1.4 percent); and ICU figures that were slightly down from Monday's. "It gives you a sense we're not out of the woods," Newsom said.
Watch the full live stream, below.
