County Supervisor Jeffries talks COVID-19

Riverside County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries

By Kevin Jeffries, 
Riverside County Supervisor, First District

With COVID hospitalizations having fallen to April levels, and Riverside County having moved into the improved Red Tier level, many local businesses have reopened and/or moved back indoors, albeit with limited indoor seating in most cases.

Many local residents have called upon the Board of Supervisors to “lift” the remaining restrictions on businesses, churches and others. For those advocating to lift the restrictions, the single biggest hurdle for such an effort is that the County of Riverside has no county issued restrictions to lift on businesses, churches, schools, etc.

All the restrictions are imposed by the State of California. Local counties and cities cannot legally lift restrictions issued by a higher level government agency (only the courts can do that), and the school districts will determine when they will open their own schools once the Governor allows them to do so—not the county.

If the county did tell business owners that they could fully open and to disregard state orders, local cities (where 70% of businesses are located) and the state could still enforce their own regulations. Additionally, for any professionals or businesses who are licensed by the state or have an ABC license, the personal or business licenses could be revoked or suspended by the state.

Cal/OSHA is another potential legal hazard for employers defying state orders. Numerous lawsuits have been filed across the state to challenge the restrictions, but to date, no rules have been overturned in California.

It is important to note that there is no proposal before the board to lift mask, social distancing or sanitizing requirements. The entire COVID-19 response issue has our residents pretty well divided.