It’s been a long six weeks since California entered its second full-on shutdown of the pandemic meant to get us through the holidays and their aftermath. As expected, this time turned out to be the darkest yet with regional ICU rates hitting scary low levels. But the good news is that they’ve now improved enough for us to reemerge cautiously.
On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced health officials cleared regional stay-at-home orders to lift across the entire state because all — including the Bay Area — are projected to rise above the 15% ICU rate threshold that triggered the shutdown measures in the next four-week period.
Now, counties will operate once again on a framework of colored tiers. Most (including the Bay Area) are now in the purple tier, which means restaurants can open for outdoor service and personal care services, like hair and nail salons, are allowed to reopen with restrictions.
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For restaurants that have been operating only on takeout orders, as well as other shuttered businesses, this reopening is clearly welcome news.
“California is slowly starting to emerge from the most dangerous surge of this pandemic yet, which is the light at the end of the tunnel we’ve been hoping for,” said California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed tweeted this morning what the move means for the city, including that outdoor dining could open as early as this week.
Promising news, but with information coming out about a highly transmissible strain of Covid-19 in California, it’s important to continue to wear your mask and stay at home as much as you can so we can get through the end of the pandemic.
Here’s hoping we all get that vaccine sooner than later.
