Contra Costa, Napa and Sonoma are out of the red tier
Mercury News, by Bay Area News Group, PUBLISHED: April 6, 2021 at 12:11 p.m. | UPDATED: April 6, 2021 at 12:31 p.m.
Eighty percent of California’s population is in the orange COVID tier after Tuesday’s reassignment.
Moving from red to orange were 15 counties: Contra Costa, Napa, Sonoma, Siskiyou, Humboldt, Mendocino, El Dorado, San Benito, Monterey, Tulare, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego and Imperial.
Moving from purple to red was San Joaquin County.
The looser regulations in those counties will take effect Wednesday.
Only two counties — Merced and Inyo — remain in the purple tier, indicating “widespread” risk. They account for less than 1% of the state’s population.
Thirty-two of the 58 counties, with 80.5% of the population, are in the orange tier (“moderate” risk). Of the Bay Area counties, only Solano hasn’t advanced to that tier.
At a press conference Tuesday morning, state Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said the tier-based system of COVID-19 restrictions is likely to be discontinued on June 15. The mask mandate is expected to remain in effect after that date, but businesses will probably be allowed to open at full capacity, he said.
Click here for the state’s official COVID website, including details of what activities are allowed in the various tiers.
Newsom shares date for state’s full reopening; three Bay Area counties move to orange tier
Napa County is among three counties expected to reach the orange tier effective Wednesday, enabling wineries and distilleries to host customers indoors without serving meals.San Francisco Business Times, By Alex Barreira, Apr 6, 2021
After 31 weeks, an end to the tier system is in sight: Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that the state plans to remove most of coronavirus restrictions on June 15 if vaccinations remain widely available and hospitalization of Covid-19 patients remains low.
At that point California would allow restaurants, bars, stores, movie theaters, museums and practically all other businesses statewide to resume operations without capacity limits both indoors and outside, state Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly told officials on Tuesday morning. Not everything would return to normal immediately — after June 15 California’s mask mandate will remain in place for the foreseeable future, officials said.
“We’re seeing bright light at the end of the tunnel,” Newsom said at the press conference, cautioning that the state will move “soberly and thoughtfully, guided by the data” to the next stage. “Everything being equal on June 15, we’ll be opening up business as usual.”
“The entire state will move into this phase as a whole. This will not be county-by-county,” Ghaly said in a briefing call with reporters Tuesday, reports the Los Angeles Times.
It’s unclear yet how much power local counties will have at their discretion to impose effective modifications to the “full reopening,” such as caps on capacity at event sizes, as San Francisco in particular has used to enforce a more conservative approach to reopening throughout the pandemic.
Newsom also shared that the state has reached its goal of administering 4 million vaccines to residents of low-income-designated areas throughout the state, activating looser criteria for counties to advance to the next tier.
On top of that news, the state included three Bay Area counties — Napa, Sonoma and Contra Costa — among the 16 across the state moving into less restrictive tiers. In the case of those Bay Area counties, they’re moving from the red “substantial” tier to the orange “moderate” tier, opening nonessential offices, indoor bars, and host limited live entertainment events, among other activities, effective Wednesday.
Solano County is the only county in the Bay Area still on the red tier. Eight of nine Bay Area counties have now reached the orange tier.
If their case numbers continue to improve, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties would be on pace to become eligible for the yellow tier next week.
Here’s what the orange tier counties can expect under the new tier changes, which would become effective Wednesday morning:
Bars that don’t serve food can reopen, but can only seat patrons outdoors. Wineries, distilleries and breweries that don’t serve meals can resume hosting customers indoors.
Restaurants and movie theaters can increase their indoor capacity to 50% or 200 people, whichever is fewer. Previously, both establishments were limited to 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever was fewer.
Retail stores can open to full indoor capacity as long as social distancing is enforced, up from 50% capacity previously.
Indoor gyms can expand from 10% to 25% capacity.
Museums and places of worship can move from 25% to 50% indoor capacity.
Nonessential offices can reopen, but the state is still encouraging remote work.
Amusement parks can open outdoors to 25% capacity for counties in the orange zone, or a maximum 500 people, but only in-state visitors are allowed and tickets must be purchased in advance.
On Friday state officials also loosened restrictions on holding indoor events such as conferences and performances for the first time since early 2020. They introduced a sliding scale for the number of visitors that can attend, and venues can increase capacity if visitors are vaccinated or have recent negative tests for coronavirus.
On the orange tier, indoor venues can host up to 15% capacity, and 35% if guests are vaccinated. For events with over 1,500 people, the orange tier allows 10% capacity and 35% if guests are vaccinated.
100 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend and 6 new deaths! Ages 18-49 most likely to catch the virus.
Solano County reported 100 new COVID cases over the weekend, adding to 61 last Friday and 51 on Thursday. Solano reported a total of 292 new cases last week, averaging 42 per day, edging us back toward the State’s purple tier. The County also reported 6 new COVID-related deaths over the weekend!
Case rates by age group
Note that those of us age 18-49 are most likely to catch the virus. The chart shows the rate of cases in Solano County (per 100,000 population, as of today).
>> The virus is still on the move here. Stay safe, get vaccinated, wear a mask and social distance!
FOR THE RECORD: Screenshots from Solano County COVID Dashboard on Monday, April 5:COMPARE: Screenshots from Solano County COVID Dashboard on Friday, April 2:
The screenshots above are from today’s and last Friday’s Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard. The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated weekdays around 4pm. On the County’s dashboard, you can hover a mouse or click on an item for more information. Note the tabs at top for Summary, Demographics and Vaccines. Click here to go to today’s Solano County Dashboard.
Solano Public Health urges public to remain vigilant, practice COVID-19 safety measures during religious observances and spring holidays amidst uptick in cases
April 1, 2021
SOLANO COUNTY – The Solano County Department of Health and Social Services, Public Health division, urges the public to practice COVID-19 safety measures to protect oneself, family, friends and others who are more likely to get very sick from COVID-19 while participating in religious observances and spring break holidays.
“The rising number of COVID-19 cases is concerning especially as we approach the holidays where the risk of spread can increase,” said Bela T. Matyas, M.D., M.P.H., Solano County Health Officer. “Being in the Red Tier does not mean we can let our guard down. Until a majority of our residents are vaccinated, we continue to urge everyone to take these precautions seriously – wear a mask in public, maintain physical distance as much as possible, avoid crowds and wash hands often – to protect our community members, prevent a surge of cases, and keep our County from reverting back to the Purple Tier.”
As religious observances such as Holy Week, Easter, Passover, Orthodox Easter, Ramadan and other spring holidays near, faith-based leaders, local organizations and the public are urged to plan and adhere to safety protocols, including keeping wearing a mask and maintaining 6-foot physical distancing between households. There are also many ways that religious practices can still be observed, including watching events online through social media platforms and celebrating safely at home.
UPCOMING VACCINE CLINICS To date, about 35 percent of Solano County residents 18 and over have received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. Solano Public Health reminds residents who have not yet been vaccinated to sign up on the Solano County vaccine interest form by visiting www.solanocounty.com/covidvaccine, as well as the State’s MyTurn notification system at www.myturn.ca.gov, to receive notices about upcoming vaccine clinics. Notices are sent out to those who are eligible for the vaccine in Solano County.
COVID-19 INFORMATION For the most recent local COVID-19 health information, visit the Solano County website at www.SolanoCounty.com/COVID19 and on Facebook at Facebook.com/SolanoCountyPH (@SolanoCountyPH).
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