City of Fresno

There is no application necessary, nor is there a need for any business to formally request re-opening. Once the City authorizes your category of business, you can re-open as long as you follow the proper health and safety protocols.

The City of Fresno has just re-classified all businesses as “Authorized” and may open to the public following the City of Fresno’s Appendix A: Social Distancing Protocol, except those businesses the State of California says should be closed.

Those businesses include:

• Public events and gatherings
• Community centers, public pools, playgrounds, and picnic areas
• Convention Centers
• Concert venues and festivals
• Live audience sport venues
• Theme parks
• Bars, Breweries, Brewpubs, and Pubs

We will announce new business openings publicly and post the list on our website at www.fresno.gov.

The Mayor and three City Councilmembers will consult with the Fresno Recovery Committee on which categories of businesses to include within each particular reopening phase and any additional health and safety requirements.

The City Manager acting as the Director of Emergency Services will consult with and receive input from the Mayor and City Council, the Emergency Operations Management Team, public health officials and others and then make a determination of which types of businesses may be considered eligible as Authorized Businesses for each particular phase.

The City Director of Emergency Services will then announce the dates and times when and which types of Authorized Businesses may open.

Each subsequent phase of new Authorized Businesses will be evaluated to measure the impacts on public health indicators. Phases may be rolled back if public health indicators show substantially worsening impacts on public health.

As of July 1, restaurants must close indoor operations however, carryout pickup and delivery are still allowed.

In addition, the Council approved an Emergency Ordinance to temporarily permit outdoor dining in the common areas of shopping centers and parking lots, with the permission of the property owner. Restaurants can serve alcohol as long as it is combined with consuming food, in compliance with California ABC requirements.

Restaurant patrons may remove their cloth face coverings when seated at their table.

The City of Fresno will publish social distancing protocols for its business category and provide a form that has all of the requirements necessary to reopen. Businesses will have to complete and post at the entrance to their buildings.  The City is working with vendors to provide additional assistance to business owners to help them get ready to open.

The City has eliminated the guideline of allowing only one customer per 500 square feet and simply requires each business to provide sufficient space to allow for adequate social distancing, according to the updated Appendix A.

It recommends limiting the number of customers in the store at any one time to allow customers and employees to easily maintain at least six-foot distance from one another at all practicable times. 50% of your allowed or typical occupancy is a good rule of thumb to use to calculate your limit.

Yes, but only when entering businesses and government facilities. Businesses shall require their employees, customers, vendors and others to wear cloth facial coverings to enter their buildings. Otherwise, we strongly encourage everyone to wear cloth face coverings in public.

Per the most recent Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance, cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children younger than 2 years of age, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the cover without assistance. However, businesses still have the right to refuse entrance to any customer for not wearing a mask (it’s just like “no shoes, no shirt, no service.”)

No one shall be criminally prosecuted for violation of this Order, except for flagrant, persistent, and/or immediate threats to public health and safety.  Administrative citations for violations by businesses may be issued pursuant to the Fresno Municipal Code.

For repeated or flagrant violations of the required closure, limitations, or social distancing requirements at a business location or facility, a police officer, with the approval of the Police Chief, or a code enforcement officer, with the approval of the City Attorney, may order a business to stop operations and close until further notice, or for the duration of the emergency.

Daycares, childcare providers, or schools providing childcare for working families can continue operations but should follow the CDC guidance targeted for those operations found at the CDC Childcare Guidelines webpage.

Implementing a system where customers/citizens can wait inside their vehicles prior to entering the business is strongly encouraged, as are pre-scheduled appointments to minimize interaction between people. In situations where this is not feasible, such as public transit and medical offices, businesses should develop public health and safety measures using the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Fresno County Public Health Department (FCDPH) websites as a guide, in addition to any guidance provided by the CDC.

The City’s shelter in place order ended on May 26, 2020, and immediately reverted to the State of California’s current stay-at-home orders, which have no set end date.

Yard sales are authorized in the Fresno Municipal Code, with a limit of four yard sales per year per residence. – The City has announced that yard sales and other sales of personal property conducted by residents on their premises are considered an authorized activity under State and Fresno County health and safety guidelines.

Here are the recommended protocols and restrictions for yard/garage sales:

• No combined yard sales or mixing of personal property from multiple households, which means block sales are not authorized*.
• No more than 10 people on the residential property at the same time.
• Members of the household and their visitors should wear personal protective equipment (PPE), such as protective facial coverings and disposable gloves, to avoid contact with materials being handled and sold.
• Homeowners or resident hosts must provide receptacles for disposal of PPE.
• Surfaces must be sanitized and disinfected frequently.
• All residents and visitors should practice social distancing and homeowner or resident host should have a checkout line marked off in 6 foot increments.

* Property owners and/or occupants are subject to the same administrative citations as businesses operating illegally. These restrictions shall not apply to a business or authorized non-profit operating from a business location, following restrictions and mitigation measures applicable to similar businesses.

• When entering a business or government office building. This applies to everyone – employees, customers, vendors, and others.
• Whenever interacting within 6 feet of someone you don’t reside with, whether indoors or outdoors. This includes public spaces, public transportation, ride-sharing, waiting in line, at work when near others, or in common areas. It would not include purely occasional and incidental situations, like passing someone on a sidewalk or parking lot.

• Children under 2.
• Anyone unable to remove the mask without help.
• Anyone with a medical or mental health condition, or disability, that does not allow wearing a mask, including medically diagnosed respiratory issues that impede breathing.
• A list of who is not required to wear a mask.

Masks must cover mouth and nose, and must not have an exhaust valve. CDC guidance.

Yes. In fact, they are required to enforce the order, and should exclude people who do not comply.

No. You do not need to provide anything beyond the fact that you are not wearing a mask due to a medical reason. Employers may be required to engage in an interactive process with employees, though.

In the City of Fresno, contact Code Enforcement at (559) 621-8400.

Pursuant to Fresno Municipal Code Section 2-514(m), upon verification of a positive COVID-19 case among an employee or customer of a business, the employer shall notify all employees of the possible exposure within 24 hours.

• My business has multiple locations.  Must I notify the employees at all locations?
  • No.  Employers must notify the employees at the location(s) where the positive employee is assigned or frequented, or the positive customer visited.
• What if the positive employee has been teleworking?  Must disclosure still be provided?
  • Yes.  Unless an employer has rules in place that teleworking employees are to have no contact with the physical work site or fellow employees, employees at the positive employee’s assigned work site must be notified.  The notice may include information that, to the employer’s knowledge, the employee has been exclusively teleworking since [date].
• What if the positive employee has been on an extended leave of absence from work at the time the positive test result is received?
  • Notification need not be provided if a positive employee has been on an extended leave of absence with no contact with any fellow employees.
• If we receive confirmation of a positive customer, where the positive diagnosis was more than 14 days from when they last visited our worksite or had contact with our employees, do we need to provide notice?
  • No.  Under that scenario, there was no risk of potential exposure.
• If we receive confirmation of a positive customer, where they were diagnosed/tested positive close in time to visiting our worksite, but the notice to us was provided more than 14 days from when they visited our worksite, do we need to provide notice?
  • Yes.  The employer should provide notice that the employer was notified on [date] that a customer tested positive on [date], and to the knowledge of the employer, the last time the customer was on site was [date].
• If we receive notice that a customer is positive, did not visit one of our worksites, but one or more of our employees visited the customer’s home, can we provide notice only to the employees who visited the customer home? 
  • Yes, just the employee(s) who visited the off-site location need to be notified.