Red tier: Indoor dining, other activities now OK in 3 counties
Indoor dining and other activities that were shuttered or severely curtailed for more than three months will resume on Wednesday in San Francisco, Santa Clara and Napa counties, which have moved into a less restrictive tier in the state’s pandemic reopening plan.
With Marin and San Mateo counties, five of the region’s nine counties are now in the red tier; the other four remain in the purple tier. Counties in the red tier may allow certain businesses and activities to resume — in particular, indoor operations such as gyms, movie theaters and museums, in addition to restaurants.
The reopenings come as cases, hospitalizations and deaths plummet across the Bay Area after a brutal winter
surge. In San Francisco, Napa and Santa Clara counties, cases have dropped up to 83% from the peaks in late December. Public health officials said that with vaccinations increasing and coronavirus cases at their lowest levels since November, they feel confident about loosening some restrictions.
But they also warned that more infectious variants known to be circulating in the Bay Area, along with a recent national uptick in cases, should serve as reminders that people need to remain cautious. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised that states not ease restrictions too quickly — even as Texas on Tuesday became the first large state to lift its mask mandate and allow all businesses to reopen.
“We now emerge from the worst surge since the beginning of this pandemic. And we are indeed ready to slowly reopen again and resume some of the activities we’ve so sorely missed during these past months,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of public health in San Francisco, during a news briefing at Pier 39 in San Francisco.
The pier, normally bustling with tourists — especially on a warm, bluesky day like Tuesday — was largely quiet, with a light crowd of parents and
“We are indeed ready to slowly reopen again and resume some of the activities we’ve so sorely missed during these past months.”
Dr. Grant Colfax, S.F. director of public health
children ambling about. Many of the shops and restaurants were open, but there were no lines and many empty tables.
At the news conference, Mayor London Breed encouraged San Francisco residents to take advantage of the newly reopened businesses and plan a “staycation” in their own city. She said she is “optimistic and hopeful” that the city is in a “very, very good place not to go backwards” in its reopening plans.
Remaining open will be “contingent on our behavior,” she said. “But I think a combination of the vaccine and our behavior is going to put us in a situation where we likely won’t go backwards.”
In California, counties have bounced between reopening and shutting down over three separate surges, starting with the first shelterinplace orders issued nearly a year ago. The recent winter wave was the worst, with hospitals overrun by COVID19 patients in parts of the state.
But cases have dropped considerably since the peak. And public health officials say they are growing confident that there won’t be a fourth surge — or at least not one severe enough to result in yet another round of shutdowns.
On Tuesday, seven counties — including the three in the Bay Area — moved from the purple tier to the red tier in the state’s reopening plan. About 87% of California residents remain in the state’s most restrictive purple tier, but Gov Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that 12 more counties were expected to move to red next week.
While visiting an elementary school in Santa Clara County, Newsom said the state is well positioned to reopen as more people get vaccinated and cases and hospitalizations decrease. He said he expected vaccines to be available for all Californians by July — and that by August or September much of the state would be close to fully reopening. On Tuesday, President Biden said at a White House briefing that he expects to have enough vaccine for every U.S. adult by May.
“We are seeing a downward trend, not an upward trend. We’re seeing capacity in a (health care) system that will allow us to absorb a modest increase in the future,” Newsom said. “But more important than anything else, we’ve seen administration of 9.3 million doses of vaccines. That creates a very different dynamic around fits and starts, opening and closing.
“If we can just maintain the vigilance, I’m confident when these restaurants reopen, that we won’t see that reclosing, reopening construct that we saw (last year),” he said.
California’s tier assignments are based on a county’s daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 population, adjusted for the amount of testing it does, as well as its positive test rate. To move to a less restrictive tier, counties must remain in their current tier for at least three weeks, plus report case and positive test rates that meet the nexttier criteria for two weeks.
The redtier changes go into effect in San Francisco, Santa Clara and Napa counties Wednesday morning. Indoor dining may resume at 25% capacity or 100 people. Indoor activities at museums, zoos and aquariums may reopen. Indoor gyms, climbing walls and “gentle” indoor fitness — like yoga and meditation — may reopen at up to 10% capacity. Funerals also can move inside, at 25% capacity.
The shift took some Napa County officials by surprise. Dr. Karen Relucio, public health officer, announced last week that it would happen March 10.
The good news is we’re moving sooner,” she told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, adding that she regretted giving businesses little time to prepare for reopening.
In the past, San Francisco and Santa Clara County officials have taken a more conservative approach to reopening than other California counties. Last fall, for example, as San Francisco recovered from a summer surge in cases, public health officials delayed reopening indoor dining and other activities for almost a month after moving into the red tier.
San Francisco shut down indoor dining again after only about six weeks, when cases began to increase in mid November. The city’s reopening plans were further rolled back amid a huge surge in cases around the holidays.
San Francisco is mostly aligning with what the state allows this time, with a few exceptions. Indoor dining tables will be limited to members of one household, up to a maximum of four people. Restaurant service must end by 10 p.m. Also, movie theaters will be allowed to open, but cannot sell food.
Santa Clara County, meanwhile, is going along with the state rules. “This is a significant change for us, as we’ve traditionally kept local rules in place,” said Dr. Sara Cody, the Santa Clara County health officer, at a news conference Tuesday. “We now find ourselves on firmer footing.”
Though residents need to remain wary of another surge, Cody said it’s urgent that the county put all of its resources toward vaccination.
“We are adjusting our approach to enable us to focus 100% of our energy on what we know is our clear path out of the pandemic, and that is vaccination,” Cody said. “Our goal is to end this pandemic and allow all of us to resume parts of our lives that we miss and that we need.”