Dr. Cody concerned California is reopening too soon

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody is concerned about how fast California is reopening since she led the way in coronavirus restrictions two and a half months ago. 

Dr. Cody said she's especially concerned with counties that are allowing gatherings of 100 people or more. As she's said from the start of the pandemic, large gatherings pose a greater risk for the spread of the coronavirus. 

Cody said Santa Clara County is doing a good job of suppressing the disease and will continue to move slowly as they reopen. 

"It takes two weeks, sometimes three to really understand what the impact is," she told Santa Clara County supervisors on Tuesday, in reference to every step of reopening. "We're looking at how many new cases have been identified and how many new people required hospitalization. Then, when we see that we have things fairly stable, then we can ease again and go to the next phase." 

Santa Clara remains at the early part of Phase 2 in the resilience roadmap to reopen, allowing curbside pickup retail, along with manufacturing. 

However, restrictions have eased on the opening of hair salons and barbershops, which are now allowed to reopen in several counties, including some in the Bay Area. Those activities are considered Phase 3 activities, but as the state is only in Phase 2, those boundaries have now been blurred.

In addition, guidelines on reopening gyms and fitness centers, also considered part of Phase 3, may be issued as soon as next week. 

As of Wednesday afternoon Santa Clara County has 2,688 cases of the novel coronavirus and 140 deaths. 

The U.S. officially marked 100,000 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. On the same day, California marked 100,000 coronavirus cases.