San Diego mayor praises residents for 'doing that social distancing' after reopening beaches

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San Diego mayor: People enjoyed the fresh air while social distancing

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer on reopening local beaches and economy amid coronavirus outbreak.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer joined "The Daily Briefing" Monday to discuss the decision to reopen beaches in San Diego County over the weekend as local governments in California begin taking tentative steps to reopen amid to the coronavirus pandemic.

"I got all the mayors to buy into it [as well as] our county public health officials," said Faulconer, a Republican. "It was a phased plan, and we said 'Let's give San Diegans the chance to do the right thing.' They did [that] this weekend. It was great to see. You had families out there. [We said] you can swim, you can surf. You can't sit down on the beach, but you can move around, walk, jog.

"To see folks after six weeks out there enjoying some fresh air doing the right thing, doing that social distancing, not sitting, I was very proud of our city and of our region," Faulconer added. "I think that just goes to show you, if you have a plan, [and] you communicate what you've got to do, people want to do the right thing."

Faulconer told host Dana Perino he is now working on a plan to reopen shuttered businesses in the city and county and hopes to able to resume substantive commerce when California's current "stay-at-home" order is lifted.

"San Diego County is going to be ready," he said. "Just like we have lead on the beaches by developing [a] pretty clear and consistent framework, we are going to do the same things for our businesses to get people back to work."

Faulconer also discussed his conversations with leaders in nearby Mexico as that country deals with the pandemic.

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"I've spent a lot of time on really making sure we are following the same protocols, in terms of bars, restaurants, and others," he said.

"That's incredibly important in a border region like ours, because we have that cross-border flow of goods and traffic. So we're all in this together when it comes to health concerns as one region. We're going to continue to push hard on that."