Coronavirus update: Businesses grapple with stay-at-home order | Phil Molnar

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate is clear, but only for about a dozen or so different industries. Grocery stores, gas stations, banks, laundromats and pharmacies are essential and can remain open. Alternatively, others — dine-in restaurants, bars and clubs, entertainment venues, gyms, public events, and conventions centers — must close immediately.But what about the hundreds or thousands of businesses that fall into the massive gray area not identified in the order? And what exactly is “essential” in today’s totally unrecognizable brick-and-mortar world? As it stands, lattes are still being served through Starbucks drive-throughs, craft beers are available for pickup at local breweries, and cable TV and Internet sales staff are still reporting to Spectrum stores.Basically, businesses appear to be making the call on their own, with some leaning on the guidance provided to individual municipalities earlier in the week.When seven counties in the San Francisco Bay Area instituted their shelter-in-place mandate, officials included a wider range of businesses in their definition of essential, including hardware stores, plumbers, some legal services and newspapers. Friday evening, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer clarified that home builders also fall into the go-to-work bucket.