San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond released another COVID-19 update in the form of a short video message last week. He noted that last Tuesday was the first day that San Diego County was officially off the state watchlist, a status that—if maintained for 14 consecutive days—will allow K-12 schools to open for in-person learning.
We are off the State's watchlist, but now we need to continue that for 14 days! That will allow schools (K-12) to open in two weeks! It's a start and we need our businesses open too, but let's keep pushing, San Diego!
— Supervisor Jim Desmond (@jim_desmond) August 18, 2020
He says this new position is reflective of positive trends in San Diego’s COVID-19 data, including that only 4% of recent tests have been positive and that hospitals are holding up well below their maximum capacity.
He notes, however, that having San Diego off the watchlist doesn’t yet change the county’s COVID-19 policies for businesses and churches. Unlike the specific guidelines for schools, businesses haven’t been given a “trigger” for when they will be allowed to reopen, being left without state guidance or any clear idea of when they can resume business as normal.
In the meantime, Supervisor Desmond encourages San Diego that we’re on a good trajectory, and to keep taking the safety measures necessary to return to normal.
“We’re doing great,” he explained. “Keep up the good work, keep up the social distancing, keep up wearing the masks, and doing all those things. We’re getting our numbers down in San Diego County and hopefully we can get our schools, our businesses, and our economy all going together, safely.”
