To regulate how those safety steps are being implemented, the County is looking to hire approximately 25 business “reopening navigators” who, according to Director of Health Services Dr. Peter Beilenson, will work to make sure area businesses meet the new standards for operating.
The focus, Dr. Beilenson said, will be on small and moderate-sized businesses, as there are already entities like Code Enforcement and the Environmental Management Department (EMD) that regulate large businesses.
“Fitness studios and gyms to pools and tattoo parlors, hair salons and barbers, these are not enforced by Code Enforcement of EMD, so those are the kinds of businesses we’ll be going to,” Dr. Beilenson said.
“Clearly there are a lot of people who haven’t heard what the guidance is or wouldn’t necessarily follow them, so that’s the idea of the navigators, showing people what actions to take,” Dr. Beilenson said.
“We really want to take the tact that we’re trying to educate people, we don’t think people are purposefully trying to mess around, but if we find that someone is routinely flaunting (their disregard of) the guidance, then we would pass it along to code enforcement,” Dr. Beilenson said.