Restaurants cleared to offer dine-in service
Dine-in restaurants can now submit plans to reopen
Tulare County Health and Human Services reported just a slight increase in COVID-19 cases in the county on Friday.
But the department also reported four more people in Tulare County died as a result of COVID-19.
The department reported a total of just nine more COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total of coronavirus cases in Tulare County to 1,844. But the four more deaths reported on Friday brings the total of deaths due to COVID-19 in Tulare County to 84.
The department reported there has been 158 cases in Southeastern Tulare County, including Porterville. The department’s official tally for Lindsay is 117.
There have been 366 cases in Dinuba and 238 case in Tulare. There have been 38 cases in Southwestern Tulare County, three cases in foothill/ mountain communities, 11 cases in Strathmore, 71 cases in Farmersville, 22 cases in Exeter, 11 cases in Goshen, 21 cases in Ivanhoe, 11 cases in Traver, 15 cases in Woodlake, 11 cases in the Reedley area and 11 cases in Orange Cove. There have been more than 800 cases in Visalia.
Thirty-one cases have been reported as travelers, 943 were due to person-to-person contact and 870 are still under investigation.
There have been 146 cases between the ages of 0-17. 238 between the ages of 18-25, 424 between the ages of 26-40, 625 between the ages of 41-64 and 411 have been 65 and older.
The department reported 912 people in Tulare County who tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered. There are 1,009 people in Tulare County who are under self-quarantine and being monitored by public health officials.
As of 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sierra View Medical Center reported it now has 38 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 10 inpatient coronavirus cases. Sierra View has reported it has had 12 deaths due to COVID-19.
The hospital reported it has had 843 tests conducted as of Wednesday and 3,914 tests have been conducted at the Tulare County testing lab.
UPDATE ON DINE-IN RESTAURANTS
When Tulare County received the OK from the state to move ahead to “Stage 2.5” of the state’s plan for reopening businesses, it paved the way for dine-in restaurants to offer dine-in services.
Restaurants in Tulare County who submit a plan for reopening to offer dine-in services can fill out the plan here: https://covid19.tularecounty.ca.gov/businessand-financial-resources/ reopening-your-business/
The link is on the Tulare County Health and Human Services COVID-19 website under business resources.
Once the restaurant submits its plan for reopening, it’s certifying it will comply with state guidelines, said county spokesperson Carrie Monteiro. That then gives the restaurant the green light to reopen to offer dine-in service. Monteiro said as of Friday morning about 20 restaurants in the county had submitted their plan.
Restaurants will still have to abide by social distancing guidelines of keeping people six feet apart. The guidelines also allow restaurants to open at 50 percent capacity.
Originally, areas such as restaurant dine-in service, hair salons and barber shops were in Stage 3 of the state’s reopening plan. But in an effort to more quickly reopen the state’s economy, areas such as restaurant dinein service, hair salons and barber shops have been placed in Stage 2.5 and have all been given the green light to open in Tulare County.
A number of local restaurants have already begun to offer dine-in service based on the 3-2 vote by the Tulare County Board of Supervisors to move into Stage 3.
Governor Gavin Newsom plans to announced guidelines next week that will allow some counties to move into Phase 3, which would include how such places as movie theaters could begin to open.