Extended County order increases negative business impact

By Doug Spoon, Editor

The news that Menifee residents and business professionals hoped they wouldn’t hear came crashing down Wednesday, causing so much concern that a clarification was needed within hours.

Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser announced early in the afternoon that he was extending until June 19 his order requiring residents to wear face coverings when outside and to maintain social distancing of at least six feet. That in itself was tough enough for residents to hear.

Then, in a clarifying second press release later in the afternoon, the County Health Department stated  that local residents and businesses will remain under the “stay at home” order that Gov. Gavin Newsom has in place, with no ending date set.

“The county will fall solely under the governor’s stay at home order as it pertains to gatherings,” the statement read, in part. “The governor’s order states that all California residents must stay home unless they are engaged in an essential business or activity, such as grocery shopping or visiting the doctor.”

Unfortunately, those activities still do not include sitting down inside a local restaurant, or making appointments at a nail salon, or working out at your local gym. Although it is unknown whether Newsom will lift the stay at home order before June 19, it appears certain that the frustrations of shut-in residents and cash-strapped businesses will continue for some time.

“The governor’s order does not have an expiration date," the statement continued. "As soon as the governor releases the stay at home order, Riverside County will be ready to move into the governor’s second phase of reopening businesses.”

Gina Gonzalez, economic development director for the City of Menifee, referred to Newsom’s four-phase plan for re-opening businesses in acknowledging that, for the time being, the current restrictions on local businesses remain in place.

“If they were to open, they [County officials] would have stated which ones in the order,” Gonzalez said. “The governor’s stages, 1-4, lists where the state is overall. We are in stage 1. [County officials] are following his orders. If the governor relaxes them to stage 2, the county would have to make the same determination. Otherwise, if we are stricter than the states, and it very well could be, then nothing happens. We just can't be less strict than the state.”

Gonzalez pointed out that the opening of restaurants to sit-down style dining with social distancing falls under stage 2. Hair salons fall in stage 3.

“We aren’t there yet, and the County is adamant about following the state,” Gonzalez said. “We continue to reach out to local businesses and check on them. Our hands are tied. We want them to re-open as much as anyone else does.”

Local business owners and employees reacted to Wednesday’s news with shock and frustration.

Merna Ibrahim, owner of Merna’s Café & Grill, said business is down “a million percent”, with service limited to take-out orders. She said she has had to lay off staff, including dishwashers and banquet staff, and has heard nothing about her applications for grants and loans.

Tom Powers, owner of Giovanni's Pizza, Pasta and More, said he laid off 20 of his 27 employees -- mostly part-time workers. He said he is "holding out OK" but that business is down about 30 percent.

" I think Newsom is overreacting," Powers said. "We know what age groups are affected. If you don't feel well, stay home.

"I agree with wearing masks and social distancing. I check my guys with a thermometer every day and they wear gloves and masks, even though it gets hot when they're cooking. I just think Newsom and the media are hyping this up more than it should be."

Menifee resident Tricia Bland is a stylist as a beauty salon in Temecula.

“If everyone just understood the already stringent health and sanitation measures that we already adhere to, it should be a no-brainer that we could open,” she said. “My salon has six booths, but at any given time, only three or four of us are working. There are only six to eight people in there at any given time. We’re complying with the under-10 gathering rules.

“Most of us have not seen the unemployment checks because we are 1099s . My owner still hasn’t had the small business loan due to bureaucracy. It’s been horrible for everyone.”

Eric Cruz owns Progressive Health & Performance, a studio training facility in Murrieta. Before COVID-19, his trainers participated in the “Healthy Menifee” initiative with the City of Menifee. The only way he has avoided layoffs among his staff of 10 is the Paycheck Protection Program grant his business received.

“The last two or three weeks, we have lost 30 to 40 percent of our cash flow,” Cruz said. “The news today was a huge blow. We were counting on re-opening maybe May 15. June 19 … with the Paycheck Protection grant, we can survive until then, but we’ll literally be bleeding out. The funds from that grant must be used up the week before that.

“Even if we re-opened May 15, re-establishing ourselves would take a couple months. Every week this lasts pushes us out further and makes it more difficult.”

In a City of Menifee webinar designed to update residents on the local impact of COVID-19 Wednesday, Gonzalez said the City’s unemployment rate was 5.3 percent in March – up from 3.7 percent in the first two months of the year. April’s numbers are expected to be worse.

“Before this happened, we were seeing a lot of new businesses coming online,” Gonzalez said. “We had started to see a decline in unemployment numbers. Now, the majority of business owners responding have reported estimated revenue losses of between $10,000 and $50,000.

“Before, we were focusing more on attraction [of new business] then retention [of current business]. We’re still a young city with a lot of growth ahead of us. Now, we’ve shifted gears and are focusing on retention efforts. We need to keep the businesses we have.”

Menifee resident Brenda Tursugian says she fears for the future of local business owners.

“Riverside County continues to earn our taxes while smashing the lives of small business owners,” she said. “They should open anyhow. This is plain idiocy! The financial well-being of business owners are being systematically eradicated!”