Indoor meals and other activities that have been closed or severely restricted for more than three months will resume on Wednesday in San Francisco, Santa Clara and Napa counties, which have moved to a less restrictive level in the state’s pandemic reopening plan.
With Marin and San Mateo counties, five of the region’s nine counties are now at the red level; the other four remain in the purple layer. Counties in the red belt may allow the resumption of certain businesses and activities – in particular, indoor operations, such as gyms, cinemas and museums, as well as restaurants.
The reopenings come as cases, hospitalizations and deaths plummet across the bay area after a brutal winter wave. In San Francisco, Napa and Santa Clara counties, cases dropped by up to 83% from peaks in late December. Public health officials said that with the increase in vaccinations and cases of coronavirus at their lowest levels since November, they feel confident of easing some restrictions.
But they also warned that more infectious variants circulating in the bay area, along with a recent national increase in cases, should serve as reminders that people need to remain cautious. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised states not to ease restrictions too quickly – even as Texas on Tuesday became the first major state to withdraw its masked mandate and allow all to reopen. the business.
“Now we have emerged from the worst outbreak since the beginning of this pandemic. And we are really ready to slowly reopen again and resume some of the activities that we have missed so much during the past few months, ”said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of public health in San Francisco, during a press conference at Pier 39 in San Francisco.
The pier, usually full of tourists – especially on a hot blue sky like Tuesday – was quiet, with a small crowd of parents and children strolling. Many of the shops and restaurants were open, but there were no queues and many empty tables.
At the press conference, Mayor London Breed encouraged San Francisco residents to take advantage of the reopened businesses and plan a “stay” in their own city. She said she is “optimistic and hopeful” that the city is in a “very, very good place not to go back” in her plans to reopen.
Staying open will be “dependent on our behavior,” she said. “But I think a combination of the vaccine and our behavior is going to put us in a situation where we are probably not going to back down.”
Pedro Avila repairs padded benches for the Fog City Diner booths in San Francisco in July. Restaurants and bars serving food can reopen for indoor dining at 25% capacity or 100 people, based on the county’s newly achieved “red tier” status.
Paul Chinn / The Chronicle 2020In California, counties fluctuated between reopening and closing at three distinct peaks, beginning with the first shelter applications on the spot issued nearly a year ago. The recent winter wave was the worst, with hospitals raided by patients with COVID-19 in parts of the state.
But cases have dropped considerably since the peak. And public health officials say they are increasingly confident that there will be no fourth wave – or at least not one serious enough to result in yet another round of strikes.
On Tuesday, seven counties – including three in the bay area – moved from the purple layer to the red layer in the state’s reopening plan. About 87% of California residents remain in the state’s most restrictive purple layer, but Governor Gavin Newsom said on Tuesday that another 12 counties are expected to switch to red next week.
Visiting an elementary school in Santa Clara County, Newsom said the state is well positioned to reopen as more people get vaccinated and cases and hospitalizations abate. He said he hoped vaccines would be available to all Californians by July – and that in August or September much of the state would be close to full reopening. On Tuesday, President Biden said at a meeting at the White House that he hopes to have enough vaccine for every adult in the United States by May.
“We are seeing a downward trend, not an upward trend. We are seeing capacity in a (health) system that will allow us to absorb a modest increase in the future, ”said Newsom. “But, more important than anything else, we saw the administration of 9.3 million doses of vaccines. This creates a very different dynamic around leaps and bounds, opening and closing.
“If we can just keep watch, I am confident that when these restaurants reopen, we will not see that rewiring and reopening construction that we saw (last year),” he said.
California level assignments are based on daily county coronavirus cases per 100,000 inhabitants, adjusted for the amount of tests you do, as well as your positive test rate. To move to a less restrictive level, counties must remain at their current level for at least three weeks, in addition to reporting positive test cases and rates that meet the criteria for the next level for two weeks.
Worker Attila Balazs (left) and facility managers Luis Alba and Alejandro Juarez move Fitness SF’s exercise equipment indoors.
Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle
Changes in the red level will take effect in San Francisco, Santa Clara and Napa counties on Wednesday morning. The internal meals can be resumed with 25% of the capacity or 100 people. Indoor activities in museums, zoos and aquariums may reopen. Indoor gyms, climbing walls and “soft” indoor exercises – like yoga and meditation – can reopen at up to 10% of capacity. Funerals can also be moved around at 25% capacity.
The move took some Napa County officials by surprise. Dr. Karen Relucio, public health officer, announced last week that this would happen on March 10.
The good news is that we are taking action earlier, ”she told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, adding that she regrets having given companies little time to prepare for the reopening.
In the past, San Francisco and Santa Clara County officials have taken a more conservative approach to reopening than other California counties. Last fall, for example, while San Francisco was recovering from a sudden increase in cases in the summer, public health officials delayed the reopening of restaurants and other activities for nearly a month after moving to the red level.
San Francisco closed indoor meals again after only about six weeks, when cases began to rise in mid-November. The city’s reopening plans have been reversed amid a huge increase in cases surrounding the holiday.
San Francisco is mainly aligned with what the state allows at the moment, with a few exceptions. The internal dining tables will be limited to members of a family, up to a maximum of four people. The restaurant service must end by 22h. In addition, movie theaters may open, but they cannot sell food.
Santa Clara County, for its part, is complying with state rules. “This is a significant change for us, as we have traditionally kept local rules in place,” said Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County health officer, at a news conference on Tuesday. “Now we are on a firmer basis.”
Although residents need to be on the lookout for another outbreak, Cody said it is urgent that the county spend all of its resources on vaccination.
“We are adjusting our approach to allow us to focus 100% of our energy on what we know is our clear way out of the pandemic, which is vaccination,” said Cody. “Our goal is to end this pandemic and allow all of us to take back parts of our lives that we have lost and that we need.”
Chronicle staff writers Aidin Vaziri and Michael Williams contributed to this report.
Trisha Thadani, Erin Allday and Meghan Bobrowsky are writers for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] Twitter: @TrishaThadani, @ErinAllday and @MeghanBobrowsky