Trying to reopen businesses

San Diego has been backed into a corner with unreasonable expectations. The state's new, color coded criteria makes it impossible for San Diego County to ever completely open.

Last week, I made a motion at the Board of Supervisors meeting for the county to no longer enforce whether businesses should be open or closed. I still believe that we should enforce the health and safety protocols, but let the state enforce their closure requirements.

Unfortunately, my motion didn’t receive a second and failed prior to the vote. I’m disappointed by my colleagues’ lack of support, and the county will continue to enforce business closures, rather than safe reopenings.

There is a new crisis – and it’s now economic. The April lockdown continues indefinitely with 200,000 San Diegans unemployed and $5 Billion in lost wages for the region’s workforce.

In April, we were told that we need to protect hospital beds, ICUs and respirators, and there was limited personal protective equipment.

We have lost sight of the original goals. As of September, we are in single digit percentages of coronavirus patients in hospital beds. We have proven we can identify, treat, and protect the most vulnerable people in San Diego County.

We have done all that was asked of us by the State. It’s time for us to take local control, to stay safe, protect our most vulnerable, and allow our businesses to open safely and our workforce the opportunity to get back to work.