AP Photo / Marcio Jose Sanchez, File
San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Marin moved from the ‘Red’ Tier into the less restrictive ‘Orange’ Tier Tuesday. The three Bay Area counties follow San Mateo County after its move last week.
“Downtown is going to start to come alive again,” Mayor London Breed, celebrating the city’s move.
Looking forward, Deputy Director of Health Care Delivery Systems, Dr. Susan Philip said, “We are even expecting to be talking about ‘Yellow’ Tier in a couple weeks.”
The Orange Tier allows:
- Places of worship: open indoors at 50% capacity
- Movie theaters: open indoors at 50% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer
- Hotels: open with modifications, plus their indoor pools can open and fitness centers can open at 25% capacity
- Gyms: open indoors at 25% capacity and can open indoor pools
- Restaurants: open indoors at 50% capacity or 200 people, whichever is fewer
- Wineries, breweries and distilleries: open indoors at 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer
- Bars: outdoor only
- Family entertainment centers: open indoors at 25% capacity for naturally distanced activities like bowling and rock climbing walls
- Professional sports: outdoor stadiums can have audiences up to 33% capacity starting April 1
- Live performances: outdoor only at 33% capacity starting April 1
“And now that, you know, that more than half of our population have been vaccinated, at least with one dose, we have an added layer of protection, I think that adds confidence that we can do this,” said Marin County Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis. “It’s not too late to drop the ball here and so, we really need to maintain our vigilance.”
“We’re proceeding with caution,” Mayor Breed said. “Because we don’t want to slide backward.”
As we anticipate moving to the Orange Tier, I want to take a moment to acknowledge how far we’ve come.
Our cases continue to fall. 0.85% of our tests are coming back positive.
Our reproduction rate has fallen to 0.76.
And 37% of San Franciscans over 16 have received a vaccine. pic.twitter.com/2E6zjrMvBw
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) March 22, 2021
Counties aiming to move tiers must do the following:
Requirements to Advance Tiers:
- 21 day mandatory wait time between moves
- Meet metrics for next tier for 2 straight weeks
- Counties only move 1 tier at a time
- Assessed weekly
Requirements to Move Back Tiers:
- Fail to meet the current tier’s metrics for 2 straight weeks
- Emergency brake for concerning factors like hospitalizations
