(OPINION) – The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year rattled the entire world, and more specifically, our nation. As Americans stayed indoors and avoided large gatherings, many businesses were forced to shut down to limit the spread and millions of people lost their jobs. California was among the states most seriously affected, experiencing a rapid early spread of the virus and rampant unemployment after a broad shutdown of businesses across the state. As a result, California kept the spread relatively controlled when compared to other states as evidenced by total cases per million residents.
Now, however, the situation appears to be on the mend. New confirmed cases of the virus in California are falling or steady and now indoor shopping malls and nail salons in the state’s most populous county are reopening safely, marking an important milestone in our economic recovery from the damage the pandemic has wrought. Moving forward, our main goal must be to continue this progress without backtracking or forcing any businesses to shut down yet again.
Our first shutdown devastated our state’s workforce, disproportionately hurting Black communities and other minority groups while COVID-19 also ravaged those same communities. This created a crushing blow to communities of color. There is little telling how much more damage a second economic shutdown would bring. For example, in View Park-Windsor Hills, a neighborhood with an 80% African American population, unemployment soared to nearly 33%earlier this year. Meanwhile the city’s Latinx population, which had among the highest employment rates for all groups heading into the pandemic, quickly saw those figures plummet as the nationwide Latinx jobless rate hit 18.9%, notably higher than the national average. To limit the impacts, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and countless other local and state elected officials in California must continue on their current path of allowing businesses to resume operations while enforcing safety measures.
Indoor retail locations and other businesses have already shown that they are more than up to the task. Beyond bolstered sanitization practices, businesses are also taking additional steps to follow the guidance of public health experts and ensure that anyone who comes through their doors is able to do so while also remaining safe. Signage emphasizing the importance of social distancing dots store floors, and other posted notices remind customers to wear a face covering while shopping. Utilizing these practices, businesses are able to reopen in a safe manner and resume their role in driving our state’s economy forward.
By giving these businesses the go-ahead to resume operations safely, California leaders are opening a crucial avenue to employment for thousands of people not just in Los Angeles, but throughout the entire state. It will play a major part in setting California on the right path economically, and will enable families across the state to find their footing once again.
Permitting indoor shopping centers and other retail businesses to reopen safely will do far more than simply boost employment, too. The taxes collected from these businesses go directly to funding public programs, which will assist many people in recovering from the
economic damage the pandemic brought upon the state. At a time when question marks remain about our state’s budget, this is more important than it has been in some time.
Leaders in both Sacramento and Los Angeles are taking the right steps to help Californians find stability, and I trust that this is a path on which they will continue. The measures they have taken in recent weeks show that they realize the importance of indoor retail stores and other businesses to the broader state economy’s recovery. These businesses are the foundation on which our recovery will be built, and assuming transmissions rates stay low or continue declining, we cannot afford to turn back on that now.
Thanks to the tireless work of our public health officials, the business community knows how it can proceed with a safe reopening and help our economy bounce back from all of the various crises that this year has brought with it. The path ahead is still uncertain, but we can remain confident that the future will be bright so long as leaders in California continue aggressively combatting the virus and allow businesses to get back to business.
By Brent Tercero | Special to the OBSERVER
Brent Tercero is a City Councilman in Pico Rivera, CA.