Name: COVID: Three more Bay Area counties enter red reopening tier
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COVID: Three more Bay Area counties enter red reopening tier

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By and | Bay Area News GroupThe majority of greater Bay Area communities have exited the most-limited stage of California’s coronavirus restrictions, as three more local counties moved Tuesday into the “red” reopening tier.Alameda, Santa Cruz and Solano were among six counties statewide to graduate out of the tightest restrictions in according to a weekly update of the state’s .The move means that the Oakland A’s are on track to , under rules the state , outdoor venues and amusement parks to host limited-capacity public events starting April 1 as long as their areas are in the red tier or better. Restaurants may immediately start serving indoor diners at 25% capacity, and indoor operations at varying capacities may resume at museums, gyms and movie theaters.Schools serving students from seventh through 12th grades may meanwhile reopen for in-person instruction after they complete COVID-19 safety plans at least five days in advance. (In the purple tier, only grades K-6 may open, depending on the county’s case and positivity rates).Officials in all three counties said they would not impose additional local restrictions on businesses and schools, allowing the state’s changes to go into effect Wednesday.“Obviously we’re very happy, because the fewer restrictions on businesses, and the more people can resume normal activities, the better,” Solano County Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas told the Bay Area News Group. “We’d actually prefer to be less strict, but the state sets the floor.”Alameda County officials emphasized that residents must continue to practice masking and social distancing.“As more activities and businesses open indoors and more people from different households mix, the risk of becoming infected increases,” said Health Officer Dr. Nicholas Moss. “The majority of Alameda County residents have not been vaccinated, so we must continue to take precautions to keep each other safe.”Alameda, Santa Cruz and Solano counties all met the criteria to advance to the red stage last week. Under the state’s rules, though, counties must hit those benchmarks — based on new COVID case rates and the rate at which tests for the virus come back positive — for two straight weeks to move forward.The three counties have now joined — Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin and Napa — and in the red, orange or yellow tiers, which indicate “substantial,” “moderate” or “minimal” COVID spread.Contra Costa and Sonoma are expected to be the last local counties still subject to the tighter restrictions in the purple stage, for “widespread” virus prevalence. A state officials announced last week could allow them to reach the red tier as soon as this week, however, because that plan is being paired with through the reopening stages.Once the state distributes 2 million vaccine doses to more than 400 hard-hit zip codes, the criteria for advancing through the reopening system will ease, allowing for higher case rates. Although the state initially said it anticipated hitting that benchmark within the next few weeks, counties had not yet received details as of midday Tuesday explaining when those loosened restrictions may go into effect.Either way, Contra Costa was poised to enter the red tier by next week.The overall strategy has — leaving out many hard-hit neighborhoods like East San Jose, San Francisco’s Mission District and Concord. On Monday, to consider alternative ways of identifying those most in need.The Bay Area has moved out of the purple tier faster than other parts of the state, which have suffered higher rates of COVID cases and deaths. Most of the Central Valley remains subject to those restrictions. And while Imperial County advanced Tuesday, Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange and other Southern California counties remained in the purple tier.Mariposa and Plumas counties advanced from the red to orange tiers Tuesday, while Alpine was the sole county to move from orange to yellow.“It’s not out of the realm of possibility that we go backwards, especially considering the variants that are out there,” said County of Santa Cruz Health Services Agency spokesperson Jason Hoppin. “So just keep doing what you’ve been doing — hopefully you won’t have to for much longer.”We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.Get Morning Report and other email newslettersFollow UsMost PopularClose

By and | Bay Area News GroupThe majority of greater Bay Area communities have exited the most-limited stage of California’s coronavirus restrictions, as three more local counties moved Tuesday into the “red” reopening tier.Alameda, Santa Cruz and Solano were among six counties statewide to graduate out of the tightest restrictions in according to a weekly update of the state’s .The move means that the Oakland A’s are on track to , under rules the state , outdoor venues and amusement parks to host limited-capacity public events starting April 1 as long as their areas are in the red tier or...

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Nico Savidge

Latest Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area news from reporters & columnists at The Mercury News.

COVID: Three more Bay Area counties enter red reopening tier

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