Six months into the coronavirus pandemic, California entered a new phase Monday on monitoring the disease, officially launching a new color-coded system to guide how and when schools and businesses can reopen.
The new rules also cleared the way Monday for shopping centers, retail stores and hair salons across the state to resume indoor service in counties that approve, such as Santa Clara, San Mateo and Contra Costa. Alameda and San Francisco chose to keep most of those services outdoors for now.
The Golden State has ditched its coronavirus “watchlist” and switched to a new four-tier system that designates a color for each county based on its rates of new coronavirus cases and positive tests. The change comes as California recorded its 13,000th death since the crisis began. New cases and hospitalizations have continued to decline in recent weeks, but the state became the first in the country to top 700,000 overall cases this weekend.
Here’s a breakdown of how the new system works and what it means for restaurants, gyms and more.
Q: What are the four tiers?
A: The tiers are purple, red, orange and yellow.
- Purple is the most restrictive tier. It means there is still widespread transmission of COVID-19 — more than 7 daily new cases per 100,000 residents or more than 8% of tests returning positive. Nearly 90% of the state is still in the purple tier, which means counties still must close many indoor operations.
- Red is when there is substantial transmission — a new case rate between 4-7 per 100,000 and a testing positivity rate between 5-8% — and some non-essential businesses must remain closed.
- Orange is a new case rate of 1-3.9 per 100,000 and a testing positivity rate of between 2-4.9% and allows more openings.
- Yellow is the least restrictive tier, where most businesses are allowed to operate indoors, with masks and social distancing.
Q: How does a county move from one tier to the next?
A: The new system is designed to ensure stability. So counties can only move from one tier to another after three weeks and they must demonstrate two weeks straight of stability to move forward. Instead of updating figures daily, the state will now post updates weekly on Tuesdays starting Sep. 8, so any movement will happen on a weekly basis, not daily.
Q: Why do some counties with higher case rates get into less-restrictive tiers?
A: Case rates are now the main determining factor for where each county is on the scale, but case rates could be kept artificially low if the county isn’t testing enough. To prevent any incentive for counties to test fewer people and lower their case rate, the California Department of Public Health is crediting counties that are testing above the state average.
San Francisco, for example, has a daily case rate of 9.8 per 100,000 residents, according to the re-launched CDPH website that tracks the new metrics. A 9.8 rate should put them squarely in the purple tier, but San Francisco is listed in the red tier. That’s because the state adjusted for the fact that San Francisco has been testing residents at about 3 times the previous threshold of 1.5 tests per 1,000 residents daily in August, and has the highest cumulative testing rate of any county in the state.
Q: Did anything change immediately under the new system?
A: Yes, shopping centers and stores, hair salons and barbershops can open for indoor business again, even in the purple tier, although patrons must wear masks and stay six feet apart. Shopping centers and stores must limit the number of people inside at one time, starting at 25% in the purple tier.
Q: Why then are some counties like Alameda still not allowing haircuts inside?
A: Individual counties can decide to open slower than the state allows, which is why Alameda and San Francisco aren’t opening hair salons for indoor service, for example, while Santa Clara, San Mateo and Contra Costa started to on Monday. Alameda opened salons outdoors Monday and San Francisco will on Tuesday.
Q: What about my kid’s school?
A: Schools and colleges in the purple tier cannot offer in-person instruction, other than elementary schools that have been granted a waiver by the local health department. Once a county moves to the red tier and stays there for two weeks, schools can reopen classrooms.
Q: And my office?
A: The state says people in purple and red counties who can should work remotely. Orange and yellow counties can allow indoor office work, but should encourage telework.
Q: So when can I go out to eat like normal again?
A: The vast majority of Californians — nearly 9 out of 10 — currently live in the purple tier. For now, restaurants and wineries in purple-tier counties can only open outdoors. Bars, breweries and distilleries have to stay closed.
When a county moves to the red tier, where San Francisco and Napa currently sit, restaurants are allowed to serve patrons indoors, but have to limit capacity to 25% or 100 people, whichever is less. Wineries still have to operate outdoors and bars, breweries and distilleries must stay closed. While Napa moved to open some indoor dining on Monday, San Francisco told restaurants to hold off for now.
In the orange tier, where a few counties, like Shasta and Plumas, currently reside, restaurants can serve up to 50% capacity or 200 people, whichever is less. Wineries can move inside, but must limit capacity to 25% or 100 people, whichever is less. And bars, breweries and distilleries can open outdoors.
Yellow counties, like Modoc and Alpine, must still limit restaurant capacity to 50%. Wineries also must limit capacity to 50% or 200 people, whichever is less, and bars, breweries and distilleries can open indoor service, but must cap it at 50%.
Q: How about gyms?
For purple counties, gyms and fitness centers are only allowed outdoors, and saunas and steam rooms must stay closed. Red counties can start to reopen indoor gyms, but limit capacity to 10%. Orange counties can increase indoor capacity to 25% and open indoor pools. Yellow counties can up capacity to 50% and open saunas, spas and steam rooms.
Q: How do I find out more about what’s open and closed in my county?
Visit covid19.ca.gov. The state has created a tool that allows people to search by county or sector. Make sure to check with your county’s public health department, too, in case the county has imposed stricter measures.
