This is a false narrative.

The original timeline was always to reopen certain businesses May 18th, since the first extensions of the lockdowns were to expire on May 15th, and as demonstrated by the entire rest of the state opening up according to that schedule without anyone else throwing a tantrum.

Also, the county doesn't need to do anything to save face. They have nothing to prove. The elected officials can always say they were acting on the information of health experts, and the health experts can always point to the CDC, China, and even the re-emerging outbreaks in Wuhan, Italy, and Germany as reasons for not allowing Tesla to restart operations ahead of schedule and before Tesla had demonstrated they were willing to protect their workers.