Napa, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties moved out of the state’s most-restrictive COVID-19 pandemic reopening tier Tuesday as case rates continue to decline across the Bay Area.
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.
Whereas most business sectors were required to operate outdoors or remain closed under purple tier restrictions, the tier changes will allow the three counties to resume indoor operations at 10-25 percent capacities for businesses like gyms, restaurants, movie theaters, museums, zoos and aquariums.
“This year has been incredibly hard on our residents and small businesses, so every step forward is critical to making sure they can survive this pandemic,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a statement. “To make sure we can keep moving forward, we all need to stay focused and continue to follow the health guidance.”
San Francisco businesses and activities can reopen under red tier protocols Wednesday at 8am, according to city officials. In Napa County, red tier activities can resume at 12:01am 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.
The state’s county-level industry guidelines can be found here.Â
