Governor Newsome announced today that Dine-in Restaurants, Malls, Offices, Outdoor Museums, and Gardens can start reopening if they meet a bunch of important criteria!
The guidelines indicates that dine-in restaurants, brewpubs, breweries, bars, pubs, craft distilleries, and wineries that provide sit-down meals should follow the restaurant guidance, but continue to encourage takeout and delivery service whenever possible.
This guidance is not intended for concert, performance, or entertainment venues. Those types of establishments should remain closed until they are allowed to resume modified or full operation through a specific reopening order or guidance.
In order to open for sit-down or dine-in service, restaurants must:
Perform thorough cleaning in high traffic areas, such as customer waiting areas, lobbies, etc.
Frequently clean items touched by patrons, especially those that might attract contact from children including candy and toy vending machines.
Clean touchable surfaces between shifts or between users.
Have disposable menus or post menus online so diners can view them on their own devices.
Equip spaces such as dining rooms, bar areas, host stands, and kitchens with proper sanitation products, including hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes.
Cutlery, napkins and cups should not be "pre-set" on the table before diners sit down.
Increase fresh air circulation by opening windows or doors, if possible to do so.
Avoid use of shared condiments (salt shakers, ketchup, etc.)
Pre-roll utensils in napkins before giving them to customers
Takeout containers must be filled by customers and available only upon request
No table-side food preparation
Bar areas inside restaurants should stay closed
Diners should also wear masks inside restaurants when they aren't eating. The full guideline for dine-in restaurants can be found here.
Malls, strip malls and outlet malls can only reopen with curbside or outdoor pickup.
Newsom said the state has also developed guidelines for offices to reopen if workers are not able to work remotely. In order to open, companies must follow these rules:
Train employees on safety and self-screening
Do temperature and/or symptom screenings daily for employees
Redesign office spaces to allow for 6 feet of spacing between workers
Close or restrict common areas
Adjust or modify hours to allow people to better space out
Consider installing systems to bring more outside air in
Do extra cleaning on high-traffic areas like break rooms, elevators, etc.
Require employees to disinfect personal work areas
Require employees to avoid handshakes
Newsom also said, "Phase 3 is not a year away. It's not 6 months away. It's not even three months away. It may not even be more than a month away. We just want to make sure we have a protocol in place to secure customer safety, employee safety and allow the businesses to thrive in a way that is sustainable."
The state's Stage 3 of reopening involves reopening higher risk workplaces that necessitate close proximity between people. That includes hair salons, nail salons, barbershops, gyms, movie theaters and sporting events without live audiences.
