Alameda, Santa Clara can allow larger gatherings
Alameda and Santa Clara counties will advance to California’s lessrestrictive orange tier for economic reopening, allowing for a larger number of people to gather for indoor dining, religious services and more, according to data posted by the state Tuesday.
They will join San Francisco, which prior to this week was the only Bay Area county in the orange tier and this week remains at that same level. The remaining Bay Area counties are either in the red or purple tier, which call for greater restrictions of allowed activities under the colorcoded
state reopening system for controlling COVID19 transmission.
The orange tier allows most businesses and other indoor activities to operate at higher levels of capacity. Under the state system, for instance, houses of worship, movie theaters, zoos and museums can go from 25% capacity to 50% capacity when a county moves from the red to the orange tier.
Santa Clara will move to the orange tier Wednesday, the county said. But Santa Clara will require some of the highestrisk activities to continue adhering to redtier restrictions, even when the county, overall, moves to the orange level. The activities that will remain restricted include outdoor gatherings of up to 200 people and indoor gatherings of up to 100 people, which must be capped at 25% capacity instead of the 50% allowed by the state and other counties. That includes indoor dining, movie theaters and churches.
Santa Clara County is the first large county in California to move to the orange tier, which is a testament to “the collective work” of everyone who lives and works there, said county health officer Dr. Sara Cody.
“This was hard fought,” she said at a Tuesday news briefing. “We are the largest county in the entire state to move into the orange tier. I think what that says is that we have been working extraordinarily hard in our county for a long time. We were a bit stricter for a bit longer than many other jurisdictions, in particular for the large jurisdictions in Southern California, and now that is paying off.”
Cody said the capacity restrictions are in place because she still considers indoor gatherings very highrisk. In fact, Cody said she doesn’t plan to start indoor restaurant dining herself, because she lives with highrisk individuals and doesn’t feel it’s safe for them.
“Any indoor activity where you have to remove a face covering is going to increase your risk,” she said. “Anyone who is in a higherrisk group or who is in a household with someone in a higherrisk group, we strongly discourage higherrisk activities like indoor dining.”
Five other Bay Area counties — Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo, Napa and Solano — remain in the red tier. Sonoma County remains in the purple tier, which indicates the highest levels of infection.
The state considers three factors when deciding whether counties can advance to a less restrictive tier: test positivity rate, adjusted case rate and a new health equity metric, which aims to ensure counties address higher virus levels in hardesthit communities before proceeding with reopening. The colorcoded tiers, in descending order of virus severity, are purple, red, orange and yellow.
The colorcoded system is part of the state’s second attempt at reopening, and is more stringent than the first reopening plan, unveiled in the spring, that had to be pulled back as new cases surged in June and July. Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of health and human services, said Tuesday he hopes the “slow and stringent approach” will allow counties and the state to quell small upticks in infections before they become widespread.
“That is the kind of spread we all worry about,” Ghaly said.
Sunshine Powers, owner of Love on Haight, a retailer in San Francisco that specializes in tiedye clothing and other items, said she prefers a slow, methodical approach to keep her employees and customers safe.
Since reopening in September, she has limited the number of customers in the store to six at a time, set up a red rope system outside that allows employees to control how many people come in, and disinfects items regularly with UVC light. Everyone must wear masks that cover their mouth and nose. Powers said she will probably keep some of those precautions even after the pandemic.
“As far as reopening, letting more people in, I don’t want to be on the forefront of that,” she said. “I’m cool with being last and keeping my employees safe. Even after all this is over, I’m keeping the red rope up and limiting how many people come in because it’s more manageable for us. The pandemic has taught us to be even more involved with our community, to check in with each other more, to make sure the business steps we’re taking benefit us and those around us so we’re making a positive impact.”
In other reopening news, San Francisco on Wednesday plans to reopen outdoor playgrounds, where visits will be limited to 30 minutes when others are present and people must maintain 6 feet of distance from others who are not members of their households. Everyone 2 years of age and older must wear face coverings.
Elsewhere in the state, Colusa, Kern, King, San Benito, Stanislaus and Sutter counties will advance from the purple to the red tier. In addition to Alameda and Santa Clara, Placer County will move from the red to the orange tier. Sierra County will move from the orange to the yellow tier.