COVID-19: Restrictions could ease in Solano County today
Solano County could move into a less-restrictive tier this week as COVID-19 infections drop, according to a report.
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Solano County could move into a less-restrictive monitoring tier that would allow some business to resume indoor operations, including gyms and restaurants.
The information came from Solano County Public Health Administrator Jaylene Richards in an email sent late Monday evening to a newspaper reporter.
“It looks like Solano County will move into the red tier tomorrow,” Richards wrote according to the Daily Republic.
Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced state officials were moving away from a per-county “watch list” toward a per-county color-based tier system. Like the watch list system, the color tiers are based on data related to COVID-19 infections at a county level.
The tiers include:
Purple, indicating widespread COVID-19 activity,
Red, indicating substantial COVID-19 activity,
Orange, indicating moderate COVID-19 activity, and
Yellow, indicating minimal COVID-19 activity
The tiers are intended to represent when the state has given counties approval to allow business to operate in certain capacities. County officials aren’t allowed to make unilateral decisions that loosen regulations without state approval, though they made decide to keep tougher regulations in place, even after the state has given the go-ahead.
The majority of California’s 58 counties remain in the purple tier, including all of California’s major metropolitan cities except San Diego. That tier allows hair salons, retail stores and malls to open with severe restrictions, including a significant reduction in capacity.
By moving to the red tier, the state is giving counties approval to allow…
Retail operations to increase their indoor capacity to 50 percent;
Restaurants and churches to offer services indoors, though only at 50 percent capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer;
Continued operations at nail salons and hair salons with certain modifications;
Gyms to offer indoor services, though only at 10 percent capacity;
Movie theaters to reopen at 25 percent capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer.
The red tier also allows schools to re-open, though only after the county has been out of the purple tier for at least two weeks.
In all circumstances, social distancing measures must be employed where practical and masks must be worn by individuals.
Certain other businesses, including wineries and cardrooms, must still operate outdoors, and bars and breweries are not allowed to open at all unless they also serve food.
Richards told the Daily Republic the county expected to transition out of the purple zone last week based on its own COVID-19 data. “But it looks like the state will say that we will move to red tomorrow,” Richards wrote in an email cited by the newspaper.
A formal announcement is expected from the Governor’s office on Tuesday.
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