California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom has laid out a three-stage plan to open the state back up in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States. 

This three-stage plan, developed in late April,  is a gradual way for the state to open up in attempts to keep the COVID-19 outbreak under control according to Newsom. Stage one focuses on keeping groups under 10 people and continues to implement social distancing.

Stages two and three, however, focus on opening schools and gyms with strict social distancing guidelines. This will allow people to begin to get back to normal but also maintain the safety of the community.  

On May 8, Newsom announced that California will be moving to stage two of the plan, which will allow businesses such as bars and gyms to reopen under strict guidelines.

“Millions of Californians answered the call to stay home and thanks to them, we are in a position to begin moving into our next stage of modifying our stay at home order,” according to the Governor’s office.

Though the plan stated that stage two would allow schools to begin to reopen, Public Information Officer Scott Crow addressed the likelihood that ARC would be back on campus next semester.

“With the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff being our top priority, we made the decision collectively to offer a fully online fall schedule with extremely limited exceptions for courses that cannot be converted,” Scott said.

Crow said that the required testing and contact-tracing put in place by Newsom makes it too hard for ARC to reopen. Crow added that ARC plans to improve the online features to make the fall semester a little easier.   

Moving to stage two allows for some businesses to open, but not all. Newsom has stated in a press conference that high-risk work environments such as salons and hairdressers won’t be able to open for at least another month.