California announced on Friday that it administered more than 2 million doses of vaccine to people in vulnerable, low-income postal codes, which could allow counties like San Diego to reopen its activities more quickly.
With the equity metric met, the criteria for a county to move within the state’s color-coded reopening plan levels become easier to meet. California expects San Diego to meet the new reopening criteria by Tuesday, meaning the county will move from the most restrictive purple layer to the red layer as early as Wednesday.
San Diego County is expected to move to the red level on March 16, with the changes taking effect the following day.
What is California’s vaccine equality metric?
Governor Gavin Newsom announced last week that he would reserve 40% of the vaccine for residents of some 400 CEPs that the state considers most vulnerable based on metrics such as family income, access to health care and levels of education.
The aim is to link reopening standards to ensure that the people most affected by the pandemic are protected from the virus. Although race and ethnicity are not explicit factors in the designation of vaccines, postal codes overlap strongly with neighborhoods with the largest population of residents who are black, Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, officials said.
California adopted a four-layer color-coded system in August that determines how much activity is allowed in each county. New level assignments are announced on Tuesdays.
Previously, counties could move from the more restrictive purple layer to the lower red layer based on metrics, including the number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people per day over a period of several weeks. The limit for entering the red level will rise from 7 cases per 100,000 residents to 10 cases.
What can reopen in San Diego?
As soon as San Diego County moves to the red level of the California tiered reopening plan, restrictions on restaurants, gyms and other businesses and activities will begin to ease.
Many industries have only been operating outside since last summer, but starting next Wednesday, in-house operations may begin again for San Diego restaurants, gym museums and more.
A change to the red level means that restaurants will be able to offer indoor meals again at 25% capacity or 100 people – whichever is less. The same goes for cinemas. Museums, zoos and aquariums will be able to reopen internal operations with modifications, including 25% of capacity. And the gyms will be able to reopen indoors with 10% capacity.
Priya Sridhar of NBC 7 has the latest news on the response to the county’s coronavirus.
A change to the red level means that restaurants will be able to offer indoor meals again at 25% capacity or 100 people – whichever is less. The same goes for cinemas. Museums, zoos and aquariums will be able to reopen internal operations with modifications, including 25% of capacity. And the gyms will be able to reopen indoors with 10% capacity.
In addition, schools that previously needed exemptions to reopen face-to-face education will no longer need to enroll, but the changes must be followed.
Domestic retail can increase its capacity from 25% to 50%.
While San Diego may be eligible for a move to a less restrictive level, it does not automatically mean that the move will take place, but a San Diego County spokesman said, “We are satisfied with the direction we are taking and hope to make a move. next week. “
There are also some reopening modifications that will start on April 1st. Since San Diego will be at the red level at this time, live outdoor events, such as sports games and live music, may have guests with up to 20% capacity, instead of less than 100 people in the purple layer.
Also from April 1, amusement parks in red tier counties will be able to receive visitors with up to 15% of capacity, even in their indoor facilities, although indoor meals must remain closed.
This week, the state also announced new rules for bars and breweries, which are practically closed if they do not serve food. Starting on Saturday, breweries and distilleries that do not serve food can open outside in the purple and red layers. The state’s guidance says that customers of both, as well as wineries, must make reservations and limit their stay to 90 minutes and that the service must end at 8 pm. Bars that do not serve food cannot open to the orange layer.
What’s next?
As soon as the state administers 4 million injections in these neighborhoods, officials say they will update the criteria to move on to the next layers of orange and yellow.
“Although we have reached a milestone today, we still have a lot of work ahead of us to help ensure that we can end this pandemic,” said Tomás Aragón, CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer. “We should all do our part by getting vaccinated as soon as it is our turn and continue to wear masks and practice physical distance to keep our communities safe.”
About half of the state’s 58 counties have already stopped applying the stricter restrictions, allowing limited meals indoors and the reopening of cinemas and gyms.
Officials across California are thinking about how things will be in the nation’s most populous state, once millions of people get vaccinated and move to remove restrictions on life-changing meetings and businesses for a year.
When authorities last summer designed the yellow-purple four-tier system, which California now uses to decide whether people can dine indoors, go to the movies or meet with friends, they did not include a green layer – a recognition that a return to normal after the pandemic was far away. Now, Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration is preparing to add one.
“The likelihood of reaching that green level is probably sooner than some of us thought when we were looking at summer and fall,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of health, on Thursday.
State officials rely on a complicated formula, including the spread of the virus, to determine which activities are restricted in each county.
But a green designation does not mean “go” for all things. Ghaly said that such a label would still mean wearing masks and being physically distant. He declined in an interview to offer more details about what restrictions would be maintained or to provide a limit on vaccinations the state hopes to achieve to allow for such approval.
On Thursday, the state’s Director of Public Health, Dr. Tomas Aragón, predicted that California could achieve collective immunity when about 75% of the population was vaccinated, although that could change with the virus mutation.