County Supervisor: “I’m at the point where I can no longer defend these [health] orders”

DANVILLE – During Tuesday’s Danville Town Council Meeting, the council hosted Dr. Ori Tzvieli and Supervisor Candace Andersen.

The conversation came on the eve of a revised health order, which allowed indoor retail, daycare, protests and outdoor church services of 100 people or less, and very limited social gatherings. Doctor Tzvieli explained that he considers indoor retail is one of the riskiest activities possible for COVID-19 exposure. He also said that church choirs are likely the most dangerous out of all activities.

The councilmembers primarily focused their discussion on downtown businesses and how they have been negatively impacted by the ongoing health order. Many of the downtown businesses rely upon sit-down dining, either directly for business or to attract customers to the downtown area.

Councilmember Newell Arnerich issued a grim warning about the state of the local economy, “if you want to permanently close those businesses, keep this going… if we go four weeks, half of them will close.” Doctor Tzvieli estimated that it will take 2-4 weeks to reopen indoor dining.

Councilmember Robert Storer chimed in, “COVID-19 is not killing our residents, it’s killing our businesses… they won’t be around.” He later added, “we did all the right things and our numbers are low, we should be one of the 47 of 58 counties that are open in California… Let’s reward ourselves and not put businesses out of business… we don’t have the numbers to justify staying closed.”

However, Supervisor Andersen responded by saying she was very concerned with growing hospitalizations in West Contra Costa County and Alameda County.

The council also discussed neighboring Santa Clara and Napa counties’ decision to reopen more than other Bay Area counties. Councilmember Storer voiced his frustration, “Do you know how crazy it sounds to say that I can eat dinner in Napa but can’t eat dinner in Danville?… It makes no sense.”

Councilmember Arnerich explained it was his expectation that Bay Area counties would work in tandem, saying that Santa Clara County now allows for outdoor dining, despite once being the regional epicenter of the virus. “At least a third of restaurants will be bankrupt permanently and closed forever, the can’t wait. What happened? Why are we out of alignment?” Arnerich said.

Supervisor Andersen responded by saying that she was “livid” and “blindsided” when she learned that Santa Clara County would be allowing outdoor dining this week. After Dr. Tzvieli left the meeting, Supervisor Andersen said during an earlier discussion with Dr. Tzvieli, she told him, “I’m at the point where I can no longer defend these orders, you need to do something about this.”

Councilmember Morgan explained that attempts to mitigate damage during potential civil unrest in the downtown area, for which several businesses affixed plywood to their businesses, has caused further negative economic impacts to the downtown area. “When you go downtown right now it looks like a hurricane hit our town… To say this is heartbreaking is an understatement.”

Vice Mayor Lisa Blackwell, for the second meeting in a row, cautioned that she believed it would be psychologically difficult to open the economy too fast and have to put more restrictions in place due to a surge in cases.

A Danville San Ramon Updates poll published this week indicates more than 80% of San Ramon Valley Facebook users are in favor of opening ALL businesses (with social distancing).

Supervisor Andersen’s office is available at 925-957-8860 or SupervisorAndersen@bos.ccounty.us.