California announced Friday that it has administered more than 2 million doses of vaccine to people with vulnerable, low-income zip codes, which could allow counties like San Diego to reopen more quickly.
Once the value of equity is reached, the criteria for a county to move within the levels of the state’s color-coded reopening plan becomes easier to meet. California expects San Diego to meet the new reopening criteria by Tuesday, which means the county will move from the most restrictive purple to red levels as soon as Wednesday.
San Diego County is expected to move to the Red Level on March 16, with changes to take effect the next day.
What is the California vaccine equity metric?
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that he would set aside 40 percent of the vaccine for residents of about 400 zip codes that the state considers most vulnerable based on values such as household income, access to health care and education levels.
The idea is to link reopening standards to ensure that people most affected by the pandemic are protected from the virus. While race and ethnicity are not explicit factors in vaccination designation, zip codes strongly overlap with neighborhoods with larger populations of residents who are black, Latino, and Asian and from the Pacific islands, officials said.
California adopted a four-tier, color-coded system in August that dictates how much activity is allowed in each county. New level tasks are announced on Tuesday.
Previously, counties could move from the most restrictive purple level to the lower red level, based on values, including the number of new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people per day over a period of several weeks. The threshold for entering the red level will move from 7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants to 10 cases.
What can reopen in San Diego?
Once San Diego County advances to the red level of the California level reopening plan, restrictions on restaurants, gyms and other businesses and activities will begin to rise.
Many industries have only been operating outside since the summer of last year, but as of next Wednesday, indoor operations could begin again for San Diego restaurants, gym museums and more.
A switch to the red level means that restaurants will again be able to offer meals indoors at a capacity of 25% or 100 people – whichever is less. The same goes for cinemas. Museums, zoos, aquariums will be able to reopen indoor operations with modifications, including a capacity of 25%. And the gyms will be able to reopen inside at a capacity of 10%.
Priya Sridhar from NBC 7 has the latest information on the response to coronavirus in the county.
A switch to the red level means that restaurants will again be able to offer indoor dining at a capacity of 25% or 100 people – whichever is less. The same goes for cinemas. Museums, zoos, aquariums will be able to reopen indoor operations with modifications, including a capacity of 25%. And the gyms will be able to reopen inside at a capacity of 10%.
In addition, schools that previously needed exemptions to reopen personal training will no longer have to apply, but changes will have to be made.
Retailing indoors can increase its capacity from 25% to 50%.
Although San Diego may be eligible to move to a less restrictive level, this does not automatically mean that the move will take place, but a San Diego County spokesman said: “We are pleased with the direction we are heading and we hope to make a move as early as next week. “
There are also some reopening changes that will begin on April 1st. Since San Diego will be at the red level by then, live outdoor events, such as sports games and live music, will be able to have guests with up to 20% capacity, as opposed to less than 100 people at the violet.
Also, starting April 1, amusement parks in red counties will be able to have guests with a capacity of up to 15%, even at indoor facilities, although the indoor restaurant should remain closed.
This week, the state also announced new rules for bars and breweries, which have been largely closed if they do not serve food. Starting Saturday, non-food breweries and distilleries can open to the outside in both purple and red levels. The state guide says that both owners and wineries must have reservations and limit their stay to 90 minutes, and the service must end by 20:00. Bars that do not serve food cannot be opened until orange.
What’s next?
Once the state administers 4 million photos in these neighborhoods, officials say they will update the criteria for moving to the next levels of orange and yellow.
“Although we have reached an important stage today, we still have a lot of work ahead of us to make sure we can end this pandemic,” said Tomás Aragón, CDPH Director and State Officer in Public Health. “We all need to do our part by getting vaccinated as soon as it’s our turn and continue to wear masks and practice physical distance to keep our communities safe.”
About half of the state’s 58 counties have now come out of the strictest restrictions, allowing limited meals inside and the reopening of cinemas and gyms.
Officials across California are thinking about what it will look like in the nation’s most populous state, once millions of people are vaccinated and move to phase out life-changing assembly and business restrictions for a year.
When officials last summer designed the four-tiered system, from yellow to purple, which California now uses to decide if people can dine indoors, go to the movies or gather with friends, they didn’t include a green level – a recognition of the return to normalcy after the pandemic was far away. Now, Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration is preparing to add one.
“The probability of reaching that green level is probably faster than some of us thought when we looked at summer and fall,” Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s health secretary, said Thursday.
State officials rely on a complicated formula, including the spread of the virus, to determine what activities are restricted in each county.
But a green name will not mean “go” for all things. Ghaly said such a label would still mean wearing masks and staying physically away. He declined in an interview to provide more details on the restrictions that would be maintained or to provide a vaccination threshold that the state hopes to meet to allow such approval.
Earlier on Thursday, the state director of public health, Dr. Tomas Aragón, predicted that California could gain immunity from the herd when about 75 percent of the population was vaccinated, although that could change as the virus moves.