Santa Clara, San Francisco and Napa are among seven California counties that appear to be on the cusp of graduating from the state’s most-restrictive reopening stage on Tuesday.
That move would pave the way for a return of indoor operations at restaurants, gyms and other currently outdoor-only businesses in those areas.
With the virus apparently in decline across the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a media briefing Monday that he expected seven counties to move from the purple tier to the red in California’s color-coded system, indicating COVID-19’s prevalence has gone from being “widespread” to “substantial.” Tier assignments are updated each Tuesday.
Newsom did not identify the counties, but San Francisco, Napa and Santa Clara appeared to meet the criteria for the red tier last week — each had adjusted rates of less than 7 new confirmed COVID cases per 100,000 residents per day, as well as test positivity rates under 8%.
Counties must keep up those metrics for two straight weeks to advance, meaning they could do so if they stay on pace through this week, and data collected by this news organization shows new cases are continuing to decline in all three counties.
Napa County spokeswoman Janet Upton said in an email that the county expects to receive official word of its red-tier status Tuesday morning, with looser restriction taking effect Wednesday.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has indicated that she expects the city to advance as well.
San Mateo and Marin counties last week became the first in the Bay Area to reach the red tier since the devastating winter wave of the virus that claimed tens of thousands of lives across the state.
As of last week, case rates in Alameda and Contra Costa counties remained higher than the red tier’s range, meaning they won’t advance until next week at the earliest.
In the red tier, restaurants may serve diners indoors at up to a quarter of their usual capacity — though health experts continue to warn indoor dining is an especially risky activity because it involves removing your face covering.
Movie theaters and museums, which are restricted to outdoor-only operations in the purple tier, can also reopen indoors at 25% capacity, while gyms can allow up to 10% of capacity inside.
Check back for updates.
The Link LonkWith the continued improvement of our COVID-19 health indicators, we could move to the state's Red Tier by next Wednesday, March 3rd.
This is a big step forward but we still have need to keep up our progress.
Here's an overview of what you can expect in the Red Tier: pic.twitter.com/cDpx4KvtoY
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) February 25, 2021
March 02, 2021 at 09:11PM
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/03/02/covid-more-bay-area-counties-poised-to-advance-to-red-tier
COVID: More Bay Area counties could advance to red tier - The Mercury News
https://news.google.com/search?q=Red&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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