SAN JOSE – After months of having some of the most stringent COVID-19 shutdown rules in the state, Santa Clara County is abandoning its autonomous approach and moving closer to California’s main trend due to declining virus cases and rising vaccinations.
Public health officials said they are easing restrictions on outdoor activities – including youth sports, as previously announced – as of Friday. And when the municipality moves to the state’s red belt for reopening, which is expected to happen on Wednesday, they will allow the cafeteries and some gatherings to return, with capacity and distance limits.
The expected resumption of indoor meals – at 25 percent capacity – was good news for Kostas Perakis, who runs the family-owned Tasso’s restaurant and bar near the Southwest Expressway in San Jose.
“We are going to open and return (return) to normal life. I love it, ”said Perakis on Friday.
Like many restaurant owners, Perakis has tried to stay afloat with takeaway food and a few meals outdoors, but said expenses with outside stalls, heaters and reduced customer traffic still mean business has dropped by up to 70%. He added that there is no way to exaggerate the difference that indoor dining makes for him.
“People like security and don’t like to be outside in the cold,” he said.
The changes were announced amid a broader implementation of vaccinations, as well as a reduction in case and hospitalization rates. They also signal a change with the county more in line with the state’s coronavirus guidelines: critics protested for months against county leaders and their health officer, Dr. Sara Cody, for implementing stricter rules than other counties.
“With vaccination now reaching the community more broadly, including more than half of people aged 65 and over, we are making significant progress in protecting the most vulnerable members of the community,” said Cody in a statement. “As things get better, it is still important for everyone to continue to practice basic preventive measures: face coverings, social distance and doing as much outdoor activities as possible.”
A new county orientation on outdoor meetings requires that a person wear a face shield only if they are less than five feet from a person outside their home. In addition, people can now sing in open-air meetings without covering their faces, as long as they remain two meters away from others.
A county statement to this news organization on Friday added that officials “determined that the benefits of expanding permitted outdoor activities, where the risk of transmission is much less, outweigh the risks.”
Most youth sports can also be resumed, with the county rescinding its rules in favor of state guidance issued at the end of last week, which allows high-contact outdoor sports to be played in any county with a per capita case rate less than 14 per 100,000 residents. Santa Clara County announced on Monday that it will follow the new state rules.
With 5,525 new cases reported on Thursday, according to data compiled by this news organization, the California average last week fell to its lowest point since the first week of November, while the number of Californians hospitalized with COVID- 19 fell below 6,000 in the first half since before Thanksgiving.
Governor Gavin Newsom said at a news conference in Fresno on Friday that the state is now receiving about 1.6 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines every week from the Biden administration, and that 8.24 million doses of injections were administered in California until Friday.
He hopes that vaccination rates will continue to increase with the early approval of a Johnson and Johnson vaccine that represents new flexibility in vaccinations, given that it consists of just one injection – current vaccines require two doses spaced between three and four weeks – and not it does not need special refrigeration.
Even so, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, continued to push due diligence in light of the increase in the number of national cases in the past three days, which made her fearful that gains in places like the California may stagnate if restrictions are eased and new, more contagious virus variants continue to spread.
“We can end the virus,” said Walensky at a press conference at the White House on Friday, “but clearly the virus did not end with us.”
Editors Evan Webeck, Laurence Miedema and The Associated Press contributed to this report.