Counties move to new tier: Orange
San Francisco, Santa Clara, Marin allowed to loosen restrictions, expand capacities
More of the Bay Area will reopen for business and leisure activities this week as San Francisco, Marin County and Santa Clara counties progress from the state’s red to orange tier, indicating COVID-19 infection levels have fallen from substantial to moderate levels.
“Advancement to the orange tier reflects the patience and persistence of the whole community in Santa Clara County,” Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said Tuesday, but she also advised “to marry that celebratory mood with caution” as the decline in case rates slows and troubling virus variants emerge.
“We are beginning to see signs we are stalling out and becoming quite flat,” Cody said.
The changes become effective today, and will allow:
• Indoor dining at a maximum of 50% capacity or 200 people, whichever is fewer; retail stores to welcome customers indoors with modifications.
• Indoor gyms, pools and fitness centers to operate at a maximum 25% capacity; movie theaters at a maximum 50% capacity or 200 people, whichever is fewer.
• Family entertainment centers indoors at maximum 25% capacity with modifications for areas of increased risk of proximity.
• Zoos, museums and aquariums at 50% maximum indoor capacity.
Randy Musterer, owner of the Sushi Confidential restaurants in downtown San Jose
and Campbell, said the less restrictive tier will be a lifeline, particularly for restaurants that have limited patio space for outdoor dining.
“A lot of other restaurant owners, they need it to survive and increase operations and bring in more cash flow,” Musterer said. “Overall it’s awesome, and we’re excited to see things continue in the direction that it is.”
Even establishments like Sushi Confidential with ample outdoor space will benefit from having more indoor dining as an option for the occasional chilly days. Musterer said he didn’t open indoors at the 25% capacity allowed in the red tier because it would not have significantly improved business enough to justify the extra cost. But at 50%, it becomes a viable coldweather option.
“It would obviously help in the rain,” said Musterer. “I can now open up inside for a couple days to keep my staff working as well as have our customers come in.”
Santa Clara County has continued to make progress despite severe vaccine shortages that have dragged on for a couple of weeks and caused it to cancel thousands of appointments for first doses.
The only Bay Area county that was already at the orange level Tuesday morning was San Mateo, which shifted last week. Yolo, Trinity, Lassen, Plumas and Mariposa counties are also in the orange tier. Sierra County joined Alpine as the only two in the least restrictive yellow tier for minimal infections Tuesday.
The earliest Alameda County can progress from the red tier to the less restrictive level is March 31. Contra Costa County cannot advance until April 4, county health officials said. Santa Cruz County also must wait until at least March 31. Sonoma, Solano and Napa counties also remain in the red tier.
Statewide, eight of California’s 58 counties, mostly in the Central Valley, still remain in the state’s most restrictive purple tier, indicating widespread outbreaks. The remaining 39 counties are in the red tier, which allows minimal indoor capacity in restaurants, gyms, movie theaters, hair salons and places of worship, with most activities restricted to out of doors.
The orange tier grants counties much more leeway.
San Francisco officials said preliminarily that the move to the orange tier will mean that bars, breweries, wineries and distilleries can open for outdoor, seated table service of up to six people per table, even without any food orders.
“Our approach continues to focus on expanding outdoor activities as much as possible as a safer environment than indoors,” city officials said in a statement.
In addition to indoor dining, movies, museums and gyms, indoor retail, shopping centers, retail services, laundromats, dry cleaners, banks, auto repair, personal services and equipment rental in San Francisco may expand to 50% capacity as well. Hotels may also open dining and fitness facilities.
Offices may reopen for in-person work schedules of up to 25% capacity and maintaining 25% capacity in conference and meeting rooms, though the city continues to encourage telecommuting where possible. Employers with fewer than 20 employees do not need a capacity limit but must reduce capacity necessary to maintain 6 feet of distancing between workers.
Outdoor organized and supervised arts, music and theater performances and festivals may open for up to 50 people maintaining social distancing between audience members from different households, while food and concessions may be allowed for groups of up to six people that are at least 6 feet apart from others.
According to the state’s current guidelines, outdoor spectator sports and live entertainment can reopen at 20% capacity for audiences from up to 120 miles away. As of April 1, the state’s guidelines will expand to allow outdoor spectator sports and live entertainment to reopen for in-state audiences up to 33% capacity.
San Francisco officials said they “are actively working to create local guidelines that incorporate the state’s guidance on this issue.”