Most places set to reopen in California

Most of California’s 40 million residents will be able to enjoy limited indoor activities such as dining inside or watching a movie at a theater by midweek as coronavirus case rates continue to stay low, state officials said Friday.

Officials said that 13 counties, including Los Angeles, would be able to open restaurants, gyms and museums at limited capacity on Sunday, the result of the state hitting a 2 million equity metric aimed at getting more vaccines into low-income communities.

An additional 13 counties are expected to reopen Wednesday under a different metric.

Also next week, the state expands eligibility for the still-scarce vaccine.

The counties eligible to reopen Sunday include Contra Costa and Sonoma in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. San Bernardino and Orange said they would do so Sunday, although L.A. County officials said they would wait until Monday.

San Diego, Sacramento, Riverside and Ventura are among 13 additional counties expected to reopen Wednesday via the normal reassignment process that occurs every Tuesday.

San Joaquin and Santa Barbara are in this category. The hard-hit counties of Kern and Fresno in the central valley remain in the most restrictive tier.

The state is opening up vaccinations to an estimated 4.4 million people ages 16-64 with disabilities and certain health conditions, including severe obesity, type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease at stage four or above and Down syndrome.

California’s guidelines do not call for medical documentation; instead, people will have to attest that they are eligible. This reduces barriers to access, but it also opens up a loophole for determined line jumpers.