SANTA BARBARA, California – Santa Barbara County is on its way to return to the less restrictive Red Level of the state’s reopening plan next Wednesday.
The door to a new reopening opened on Friday, when California reached 2 million vaccines in designated postal codes across the state where communities were hit hardest by COVID-19.
This milestone updated the state’s reopening orientation, raising the threshold to reach the red level to 10 weekly COVID-19 cases per 100,000.
Santa Barbara County is expected to officially meet this metric when the updated figures are released next Tuesday. The change to the red level would take effect on Wednesday.
At Red Tier, restaurants can again offer indoor meals with a capacity of 25% or less than 100 people, whichever is less.
Internal cinemas can also reopen at 25%, while internal gyms can reopen at 10%.
Museums and indoor aquariums may also reopen with limited capacity. High schools and high schools would be released for face-to-face learning at the red level.
The companies are already preparing for a limited internal return. Harry’s Plaza Cafe in Santa Barbara will once again be able to fill 25% of its large internal space once the county officially moves to the Red Level.
“I mean, there are 50-60 people easily that we would be able to accommodate in a warm environment instead of sitting outside in the cold,” said general manager Kevin Hebert.
Santa Barbara County moved to the Red Level in the fall, before the frightening increase in COVID in the winter forced the restrictions to return.
There is hope that companies will not have to endure another standstill this time.
“While vaccination is becoming more prevalent for the public to achieve, I think it is the key to moving forward and not coming back,” said Hebert.
Santa Barbara County Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso shares some of that optimism, saying on Friday that he believes “strongly” that the county can avoid falling back to the most restrictive purple level ever, if people continue to diligently follow health guidelines.
“I think we learned a lot [last fall] regarding the speed with which we can increase our case rates due to lack of adherence, ”said Do-Reynoso. “We need to adhere to precautions until we reach this high level of vaccination in our community.”