San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Alameda, Napa set to move to orange tier
Wineries can begin indoor tastings with counties reopening
Napa and Alameda counties are expected to move into the orange tier of California’s pandemic reopening plan on Tuesday, allowing wineries to open indoor tasting rooms and letting bars and music and sports venues open outdoors with limits.
If both counties maintain low case numbers and positive test rates in the state’s weekly report, they will be the latest in the Bay Area to leave the red tier, the second most restrictive of the state’s fourtiered system. They will join San Francisco, Marin, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in the orange tier; only three local counties will remain in red.
“We are on track,” said Janet Upton, a spokesperson for Napa County. She said metrics were trending in the right direction to meet the state’s criteria to further loosen coronavirus rules.
The county’s guidance will align with California’s reopening rules with no additional restrictions, she said.
The move would come as a great relief to
the region, which depends heavily on tourism, especially on winery visitors.
Napa County’s wineries have felt squeezed by flipflopping opening and closing restrictions through the pandemic. Moving into the orange tier and allowing indoor tastings would provide substantial relief as summer approaches, local leaders said. Many California wineries would be seating most customers outdoors anyway, but tasting wine in extreme heat is unpleasant for customers and potentially dangerous for staff, and it can ruin the wine. “With warm weather coming, our season starting to pick up and tourism returning, we’re excited to have the ability to see more people and offer the option to sit indoors,” said Stephanie Honig, president of Honig Winery in Rutherford. “A lot of our tasting space is outdoors anyway. But it’s great to have the option.”
Most of the orange tier changes involve increasing indoor capacity on businesses that are already open. But indoor pools at hotels and gyms can reopen, along with bowling alleys, cardrooms and family entertainment centers with limited capacity.
Bars that do not serve food can reopen outside. Permanent music or sports venues can open to live outdoor audiences at 20% capacity.
The state assigns tiers on Tuesday. Relaxed restrictions for qualifying counties take effect Wednesday. Assuming Alameda and Napa counties meet the state criteria, it will mark the first time either has been in the orange tier since November, when cases across the region began climbing ahead of the winter surge.
“We haven’t entered the orange tier per the state’s blueprint for a safer economy yet, but we’re moving in the right direction,” Neetu Balram, a spokesperson with the Alameda County Department of Public Health, said Thursday. “If current trends continue, we expect we could enter orange tier early next week.”
Alameda County officials will also align with the state on permitted activities and restrictions for the orange tier.
California’s tier assignments are based on a county’s daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents and 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 next-tier criteria for two weeks.
State officials recently loosened the metrics required for counties to move from tier to tier, tied to the number of lowincome residents who have received vaccines statewide. The metrics will be loosened again once the state reaches 4 million vaccine doses administered in the most vulnerable communities. That could allow the Bay Area’s remaining red tier counties — Sonoma, Contra Costa and Solano — to advance to orange as well.
The state had administered nearly 3.2 million doses to vulnerable communities as of Friday.
“At this time, Solano County continues to trend in the red tier,” said Jayleen Richards, the county’s public health administrator.
Even though coronavirus cases continue to decline in California, Bay Area health officials have cautioned against reopening too quickly. Dr. Ahmad Kamal, director of health care system preparedness for Santa Clara County, said he is monitoring hospitalization and intensive care numbers to flag any concerning trends, especially with the increased circulation of more infectious variants in the region. “The message I would put out there (is) we need to be very vigilant,” he said. “Just because things are open doesn’t mean we all need to go out and do everything. We really aren’t out of the woods yet.”
Balram also urged moving forward with vigilance.
“The pandemic isn’t over, and case rates are rising in some parts of the country,” she said. “We need residents, workers and businesses to continue following COVID19 safety measures we know work: Wear a mask, wash your hands, and keep at least 6 feet of distance from anyone you don’t live with.”