Last week, some LA retail businesses were allowed to reopen, despite the city not meeting important benchmarks for recovery.

A lot of retail workers were put in harm's way.

Here's what happened and how we can avoid it happening again. (thread)

This past week, LA announced that flower shops were going to reopen, with two days notice, for Mother's Day -- their biggest weekend of the year

Predictably, there were huge crowds in the Flower District. Social distancing was impossible to maintain. https://twitter.com/guerinemily/status/1258761820011028481

Other retail businesses were also reopened for curbside pickup -- they have been given guidelines for reopening, but little clarity on how rules will be enforced. We simply don't know how it will affect our case numbers, which are stubbornly plateaued - *not* decreasing.

Experience from other reopened cities, and from grocery stores that have been open in LA, has shown that many of these guidelines are not being followed. One study found that 96% of businesses didn't fully comply with the new safety regulations. https://dallas.eater.com/2020/5/8/21252097/mark-cuban-secret-shopper-study-finds-restaurants-dont-comply-reopening-texas-requirements

There are 147,000 retail workers in the City of Los Angeles.

Workers, who are largely not unionized, were not included in conversations about how to reopen safely. Workers who fear coming back immediately risk losing their jobs for good.

Who are the workers we’re putting at risk in the push to reopen?

Mostly black and brown Angelenos, who have borne the brunt of this outbreak and already live in cramped spaces, often with multiple generations of family, in communities being most heavily impacted by COVID-19.

LA retail workers also find themselves in a bind with regard to childcare.

School and daycare are still not an option. If parents return to work, children will be left with another relative -- like a grandparent, potentially risking an older person’s exposure to the virus.

How can LA better protect workers as we reopen? Maybe:

1) Making PPE and sanitation access mandatory
2) A city fund for safety investments
3) A tip line and other programs to monitor compliance

For any plan, workers must be at the table.

Today at 4 pm, join me on Instagram Live as we speak with the wonderful @Rachel_Reyes, a retail worker and labor organizer, about how to reopen LA business while ensuring worker safety.

http://instagram.com/nithyaforthecity