Santa Clara, Napa and San Francisco counties were moved Tuesday to the red COVID-19 reopening tier, which means indoor dining, movie theaters, gyms and other businesses will be allowed to reopen with limited capacity.
The three counties moved out of the purple tier and into the red tier based on their coronavirus case and test positivity rates. With San Mateo and Marin counties falling out of the purple tier last week, there are now five Bay Area counties in the red tier.
Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano and Sonoma counties remain in the most-restrictive purple tier.
In the red tier, the following businesses can reopen indoors at these capacities:
- Gyms and fitness centers: 10%
- Restaurants: 25% or 100 people, whichever is fewer
- Movie theaters: 25% or 100 people, whichever is fewer
- Museums, zoos and aquariums: 25%
San Francisco businesses and activities can reopen under red tier protocols Wednesday at 8 a.m., according to city officials. In Napa County, red tier activities can resume at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
In addition to Napa, San Francisco and Santa Clara, four other counties across the state moved into the red tier Tuesday, reducing the number of purple tier counties in California to 40.
At least a dozen more counties are expected to move into less-restrictive tiers next week as well, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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Santa Clara County officials said they hope the move to the red tier will help local businesses bounce back, but it may not be enough.
"It might be a little bit late for us," Hung Tu from Culinary Corner Bistro said.
Traffic in downtown San Jose has dropped significantly during the pandemic. Tu said his place is barely hanging on.
"Our hole is so big," he said. "The numbers are not going to add up for us. We might have to let it go in a month or so, unfortunately."
