The rural county in the northeastern part of the state plans to allow all businesses to open, including beauty salons and dine-in restaurants, as well as schools and churches.
Small communities across California have called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to allow them to reopen businesses, but he has refused to relax stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Even so, Modoc County Sheriff “Tex” Dowdy says reopening his county isn’t an act of defiance.
“This is not a political move,” Dowdy says. “This is not us — I hate the term — going rogue. That’s not what this is about. This is strictly to support our community.”
Dowdy says this rural region looks very different from the more crowded cities in the Bay Area or the LA region. Modoc County spans nearly 270,000 acres and just 9,000 people live there.
It is one of the four California counties that hasn't confirmed any coronavirus cases. About 80 people have been tested so far.
County officials issued a strategic reopening plan this week. It says restaurants can open their doors again, but they’re only allowed to have half the capacity of their maximum occupancy. It advises people who are 65 years or older, as well as people with preexisting health conditions, to remain home.
The plan says county officials will considering reverting these orders if there are more than two confirmed cases, if there’s a surge of patients that overwhelms its medical facilities, or if there’s a “substantially increased death rate” within the county.
