TUCSON, Ariz — Pima County administrator Chuck Huckelberry addressed safety concerns about reopening the county in a statement Friday afternoon.
Huckelberry said that Pima County's Back to Business campaign has brought together business and faith leaders with health experts to create a plan to "assure the public that it is safe to resume dining, recreating, exercising and lodging in Pima County..." because the county has "a set of minimum standards that will help protect workers and the public from the transmission of COVID-19."
Huckelberry said the standards adopted during the May 13th meeting of the Board of Supervisors have received a lot of community feedback, with some saying the measures go too far while others say the measures aren't going far enough. Huckelberry said the Board will continue to try and strike a balance "of protecting public health and getting people back to work in a safe manner during a pandemic."
He also laid out three clarifying amendments he will ask the Board of Supervisors to consider when they meet on May 19:
- "That drive-thru and counter service restaurants are not required to have call-ahead or reservation systems. This was never our intent, but recognize the adopted protective measures were unclear on this point. We will ask the Board to make it clear.
- That restaurant staff should not have to try to determine if a prospective patron is ill with COVID-19. Instead we will ask restaurants to install posters at their entrances stating that anyone with COVID-19-like symptoms should not enter. The symptoms will be spelled out on the poster.
- And we will ask the Board to rescind the civil penalty and instead ask that if inspectors find restaurants who are not complying with all of the protective measures that such will be posted to the County’s website similar to the results of normal health inspection reports for all restaurants."
