San Mateo County first in Bay Area to orange tier

Area’s restrictions will be eased even more starting today

San Mateo County became the first in the Bay Area since the winter surge in coronavirus cases to reach the orange tier of California’s coronavirus reopening system on Tuesday, meaning residents will be guided by the second-loosest level of restrictions on businesses and activities.

Santa Clara County and San Francisco are on track to take the same step next week, according to data posted by state officials.

The progress comes as the number of new coronavirus cases continues its dramatic decline across California, and despite what Gov. Gavin Newsom described as a slowerthan-expected ramping up of vaccine supplies.

State officials have talked for weeks about their hopes to vaccinate significantly more residents after federal regulators authorized Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine last month. But so far, Newsom said California has received only 341,000 doses from Johnson & Johnson.

“We were anticipating a lot more than that by now,” Newsom said during a visit to an Alameda elementary school Tuesday morning.

California’s vaccine supply overall has been rising only modestly. The state is set to receive about 1.75 million doses this week and 1.8 million next week, compared to 1.6 million in the first week of March and 1.3 million in mid-February.

Newsom said significant increases are still on the way. California expects to get far more doses and build out its vaccine distribution network so that it can deliver 4 million shots per week by the beginning of May, when President Joe Biden last week pledged to open eligibility to all adults.

“We are going to be in a completely different place in six or so weeks,” Newsom said, “as we see the significant increase in manufactured supply.”

Entering the orange, or “moderate,” tier allows bowling alleys and indoor cardrooms in San Mateo County to reopen within certain capacity limits starting today, and the same with outdoor service at bars that don’t offer food service.

Indoor operations at restaurants, museums, churches and movie theaters in most cases will be allowed to increase their capacities to half of pre-pandemic levels — up from the tighter restrictions mandated in the red, or “substantial risk,” tier. Wineries, breweries and distilleries will be allowed to start indoor service.

The rules continue to discourage indoor gatherings, where the virus has a particularly easy time spreading, but allow them with members of up to three households.

Mike Leong, owner of Bel Mateo Bowl in San Mateo, said he will open his bowling alley at noon today.

Leong has spent the past several months working to get his business ready for reopening. It now “looks like a hospital,” he said, with Plexiglas separating every bowling lane, air purifiers every six lanes, a fog sanitizer unit and other precautions.

In the year since the bowling alley closed, Leong lost his brother to COVID-19 and has been on unemployment along with about 20 staff members.

“I can’t begin to tell you the amount of anguish and mental health issues I went though not being able to do what we normally do here,” Leong said. “I had to make sure we were ready to go for our community.”

With more than 750,000 residents, San Mateo is by far the most populous county yet to reach the the orange stage. Just three others, which combined are home to about 40,000 people, had reached that level or the least-restrictive yellow tier before Tuesday.

Several large counties where COVID-19 rates have been far higher also left the state’s most-restrictive purple tier on Tuesday, including Monterey, Sacramento, San Diego and Riverside.

Along with Marin County, San Mateo was the first in the Bay Area to graduate out of the purple stage on Feb. 23. Since then every other Bay Area county has entered the the red tier, and some of the largest in Southern California did the same after state officials hit a goal of distributing 2 million vaccine doses in vulnerable ZIP codes, which triggered relaxed rules for entering that stage.

Data posted by the state Tuesday showed Santa Clara and San Francisco counties now have low enough case and test positivity rates to advance to the orange tier. State rules require counties to maintain those rates for two weeks before they can advance, meaning both counties could do so next Tuesday barring an increase in cases.

Newsom and other state officials hinted last week they would soon announce the creation of a fifth “green tier” that would remove even more limits on businesses and gatherings. But they have not detailed what it would take for counties to reach that stage.

“Moving to the orange tier marks that we are making a true comeback,” San Mateo County Board President David J. Canepa said in a statement Tuesday. “It means that there is no longer a substantial risk of catching COVID in this county. Now we must minimize the risk if we want to move to yellow and then green to complete this historic comeback.”

At the San Mateo County History Museum inside Redwood City’s old county courthouse, officials were bringing back staff and gearing up for a planned reopening next Wednesday, March 24. Indoor

museums had been allowed to reopen with up to 25% of their usual capacity since county entered the red tier, and the move to orange ups that to 50%.

Museum Bookkeeper Susan Smith said this time feels different, unlike previous reopenings, when waves of the virus forced businesses to shutter again.

“Things look like they have stabilized,” Smith said. “We’re secure that we don’t have to send all our people back to unemployment.”

The Pittsburg Unified School District will keep classrooms closed and stick with full distance learning through the end of this school year.

Superintendent Janet Schulze announced the decision in a letter to parents late last week after trustees voted on March 10 to not initiate the in-person/distance learning hybrid system that many other districts are turning to this semester.

“After listening to feedback during multiple webinars last week, reviewing survey data, and hearing the public comment during the meeting, it was ultimately decided the logistics of the hybrid model present too many barriers, disruptions and inequities, and it would be better for our scholars to remain in their current distance learning schedule,” Schulze wrote. “Also, while the rate is declining, the higher rates of

COVID-19 in the Pittsburg community remain a concern.”

In nearby Mt. Diablo Unified School District, bringing teachers and students back safely was also a concern. The district and teachers union, however, reached a tentative agreement early Tuesday morning to reopen classes, starting March 25 for preschool through second grade, as well as special education classes.

Liberty Union High School District, meanwhile, is gearing to reopen with a hybrid model on Thursday while Antioch Unified School District has yet to decide.

Liberty Union Superintendent Eric Volta announced the decision late last week, noting students would be divided into two groups, the first of whom will return on Thursday and the second on March 29.

Pittsburg Superintendent Schulze faced an emotionally charged crowd last week as trustees discussed the issue of reopening long into the evening.

Schulze said a survey showed roughly half of parents of high-school and junior high students preferred to remain in remote learning only this semester, compared to 44% of elementary school parents who wanted to keep students home. Many who supported a switch to hybrid learning said they were concerned about their children’s mental health and lack of socialization and found it difficult to balance their work with overseeing distance learning. Those who supported distance learning said they wanted their children to return to classrooms only when safe to do so.

Wolfgang Croskey, a Pittsburg parent of six children including four who are school age, said he was disappointed in the decision to remain with distance learning. Croskey said he moved his older two children to independent study, did not enroll his first-grader but kept his 9-year-old, who has Down syndrome, in distance learning.

“I can say without a doubt that for special education learning, distance education does not work,” Croskey, a former Antioch teacher, said. “To do speech or occupational language therapy over Zoom is comical, ridiculous. They are getting a watered-down version.

“My son would have a meltdown and was in tears every day,” he said, noting his wife stays home to sit with their son and direct him in his classes. “It’s greatly impacted our ability to function as a normal family.”

Croskey said what the survey didn’t reveal was the parents’ reasons for not wanting hybrid classes, which included worries about scheduling logistics and wondering how a teacher could teach two groups, online and in-person, at the same time.

Other parents expressed disappointment on the district’s Facebook page, with several saying they were hoping for a hybrid model after spring break.

“They can have cheer tryouts in a gym but they can’t sit at a desk in a classroom?” Rose Pucio said.

Pittsburg Education Association

President Chris Coan said her group supported the decision, noting that the district’s safety plan was not complete for the suggested April 12 start.

“(That) combined with the inadequate hybrid model, I think is what brought it down,” she said, adding that COVID-19 rates for Pittsburg have consistently been about twice as high as the countywide rate.

Coan also said many teachers thought the hybrid model resulted in inequities. For example, elementary school students attending morning classes would get more in-person instruction than than those who come in the afternoon. There were also childcare problems for parents and staff and difficulties getting all the services that special education students need.

“Since the plan was to stagger sections of grades in, there were so few days left to actually attend,” she said.

Croskey said he thinks the real reason the district decided to stay with distance learning is there weren’t enough teachers who wanted to return to classrooms.

“It’s a very hard situation,” he said. “The solution wasn’t deemed viable so that’s why parents said no, not necessarily because it wasn’t safe. (Hybrid) would have given an opportunity for staff to practice the social distancing protocol and the like. This is a lost year, so why can’t we use it to practice for next year and see how it works?”

Schulze acknowledged the difficulties but said in an email: “Our teachers have been fantastic; they were not a barrier in this.”

In her letter to parents, Schulze noted the district will focus on planning “a robust summer learning program and the start of the 2021-2022 school year.”

“I know the situation we are in during this pandemic has been extremely difficult for our families and staff,” Schulze said. “I appreciate everyone’s dedication, partnership, and service in the best interest of our scholars.”