Napa County advances to red tier

Santa Clara, San Francisco counties also set to ease restrictions

Santa Clara, San Francisco and Napa were among seven California counties that graduated Tuesday from the state’s most-restrictive reopening stage, paving the way for a return of indoor operations at restaurants, gyms and other businesses that are now outdoor-only.

And this time around, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he expects the looser restrictions will stick, unlike earlier efforts that proceeded in “fits and starts, opening and closing.” While restaurants, gyms and other businesses last summer and fall had the frustrating experience of resuming operations only to have to shut them down weeks or months later amid waves of new infections, Newsom said the arrival of vaccines points to a clear path out of the pandemic.

“If we can just maintain the vigilance,” he said, “we won’t see that re-closing, re-opening construct that we saw.”

Supplies still tight

Supplies of the vaccine remain tight nationwide for now, but both Newsom and President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the scarcity would not last.

The United State will have enough doses to vaccinate every adult in the country by the end of May, Biden said, two months sooner than his administration had predicted. That announcement followed an agreement Tuesday for the pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co to produce the recently approved single-shot vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson.

California expects to start receiving doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine later this week, Newsom said, and is slated to get more than 1.6 million vaccine doses overall next week when those from Moderna and Pfizer are included. Data from the Centers for Disease Control shows nearly 9.5 million doses have been administered in California, and 6.5 million residents have received at least one shot.

“We just need a few more months to bridge,” Newsom said during a press conference Tuesday at a Palo Alto school.

Meanwhile with the virus still in decline across California, 18 counties that are home to a combined 5.2 million people have as of Tuesday advanced out of the purple tier of the state’s color-coded reopening system, which indicates the virus is “widespread.” Santa Clara County became the largest of the 16 that have reached the red tier, for “substantial” spread; tiny Sierra and Alpine counties have made it to the next level, orange.

Other counties react

More local counties — Alameda, Santa Cruz and Solano — could join them as soon as next week in advancing out of the tightest restrictions. State data indicates they are among 12 counties statewide that Newsom hinted Tuesday were “likely” to move into less-restrictive stages soon.

California’s test positivity rate now stands at just 2.3%, the governor said, lower than the rates in all but seven other states. Data collected by this news organization shows the seven-day average of new coronavirus cases statewide is just over 5,000 per day, the lowest point since early November. And the numbers of COVID patients in hospitals and emergency rooms have each declined by more than 40% over the past two weeks.

“We are making real progress,” Newsom said.

Starting Wednesday, restaurants in Santa Clara, San Francisco and Napa counties may serve diners indoors at up to a quarter of their usual capacity. Movie theaters and museums, which had been restricted to outdoor-only operations, can also reopen indoors at 25% capacity, while gyms can allow up to 10% of capacity inside.

Santa Clara County has in the past instituted tighter rules than the state on activities such as indoor dining, but is not doing so now. Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said local rules would align with the state’s red-tier restrictions in part because of the county’s success in vaccinating older residents who are more vulnerable to COVID-19 — nearly 60% of county residents 65 and older, she said, have received at least one shot.

“We now find ourselves on firmer footing,” Cody said.

Still, Cody appeared to echo the warnings of many epidemiologists and public health experts, that indoor dining creates conditions that can help fuel the spread of coronavirus.

Cody said indoor activities where people are taking off their face masks — as on would in a restaurant’s dining room — are “especially risky” for unvaccinated older adults or those with chronic health conditions. Instead, Cody and others encouraged residents to do as much as possible outdoors, where natural ventilation means spread of the virus is far less likely, and to keep facemasks on when inside.

“Just because the state’s framework may allow an activity does not mean it is safe,” Cody said.

Modoc, Lassen and El Dorado counties joined the three from the Bay Area in advancing Tuesday, as did San Luis Obispo, the first in hard-hit southern part of the state to do so.

San Mateo and Marin counties last week became the first in the Bay Area to reach the red tier this year. The case rate in Contra Costa County remains too high for the red tier, so it will be at least two weeks before that county can advance.