Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
Santa Barbara County has reached the state’s less restrictive red-tier allowing more businesses to open indoors starting Wednesday.
The announcement was made during Tuesday morning’s Board of Supervisors meeting with Public Health Department (PHD) Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso giving an excited “yay!”
The state surpassed the 2 million vaccination threshold in the Healthy Places Index (HPI) Quartile 1, essentially the communities who have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 virus. This prompted the restructuring of the “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” metrics, expanding the color-coded tiers allowing more counties to progress.
The county is currently reporting an adjusted case rate of 7.7 per 100,000 population, a 3.3% testing positivity rate, and a 5.1 health equity rating that allows the county to operate in the red tier. The county will need to stay in this red tier for another two weeks before being eligible for the orange tier.
The changes will take effect at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 17. Here are the biggest updates:
Gatherings
Outdoor and indoor gatherings are limited to persons from no more than three households. Indoor gatherings strongly discouraged but are allowed with face coverings and at least six-feet distance from people from other households.
Restaurants
May operate indoors at 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer.
Retail, Grocery & Shopping
Retail stores, shopping malls and swap meets may operate with a maximum of 50% capacity. Common areas will remain closed. Food courts are open at 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer.
Schools
Secondary schools with safety plans in place will be permitted to open for in person education.
Worship services, weddings, funerals & protests
Worship services, cultural ceremonies, weddings and funerals are permitted indoors with modifications at 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer. Face coverings are required, even when singing, chanting or protesting. Receptions, parties or celebrations of life are not permitted.
Fitness Centers, Gyms & Dance Studios
Fitness centers, gyms and dance studios, including those in hotels and lodging rentals, may operate indoors with modifications at 10% capacity. Rock climbing walls are allowed. Spa facilities, saunas, steam rooms, indoor pools remain closed.
Museums, Zoos & Aquariums
Museums, zoos and aquariums may open indoors at a 25% capacity.
Movie Theatres
Movie theatres may open indoors at 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer
Libraries
Open with indoor capacity limited to 25%-50%
Cardrooms and Satellite Wagering
Outdoor only with modifications
Wineries, Breweries, Distilleries
Outdoor only with modifications, per Reservation, 90-minute time limit, seating only, limited hours until 8 PM
Offices
Allow remote only except for critical infrastructure sectors where remote working is not possible.
Personal Care Services
Personal care services may open indoors with modifications.
Hotels and Lodging
Open with modifications, with indoor pools, hot tubs, saunas, and steam rooms remaining closed.
Amusement Parks
Starting April 1, may open with modifications: Max 15%, small groups of maximal 10 persons or 3 household groups with no intergroup mixing, indoor capacity max 15% with time restrictions, no indoor dining, weekly worker testing program, in-state visitors only, online ticket purchase only
Outdoor Live Events with assigned Seats and controlled mixing (Sports and live performances)
As of April 1, max 20% includes suites with 25% occupancy per suite and suites no more than 3 households, weekly worker testing program, in-state visitors only, advanced reservations only, primarily in-seat concession (no concourse sales)
Family Entertainment Centers
Mini golf, Kart Racing, Batting Cages: outdoor only with modifications.
For a complete look at what the State allows in the Red Tier, check out the State COVID-19 reopening framework, the Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
Santa Barbara County Numbers
Dr. Do-Reynoso confirmed hospitalizations, intensive care unit stays, and active cases continued to decrease the first 15 days of March. Total deaths, however, increased by 4%. The county has now sustained 429 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
The adjusted case rate decreased by 21% and the numbers prove the winter surge in cases is now over, said Dr. Do-Reynoso. While she acknowledged this is “indeed good news,” the community must stay vigilant as new variants of the virus are circling and Spring Break approaches.
Public Health Officer Dr. Henning Ansorg confirmed the county is still experiencing widespread community transmission. He urged residents to stay diligent to avoid what’s currently happening in Europe where a third wave of COVID-19 is now growing exponentially.
Regarding vaccine production, Dr. Ansorg stated he feels quite optimistic as the federal government is ramping up COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution. The county’s infrastructure is in place to easily double or maybe triple vaccine distribution in the county, he said.
For more information about local public health orders, guidance, and vaccine distribution in Santa Barbara County, please visit: https://publichealthsbc.org/.
If I went back in time 5 years and told you the government would prohibit you from gathering with people from outside your household, schools would be closed for over a year, and religious institutions prohibited from holding services indoors all because of a virus that 99.87% of the people under 65 will survive, IF they even contract it, you’d say that is absolutely crazy and would never happen in the U.S.A.
au contraire anonymous @2:46, I might have said, “damn that really sucks, must have been a very bad flu year.” (yes, i understand covid is not the flu but we’re going back to pre-covid times) Are you aware 3 million people die each year in the US? Here from the CDC are the leading causes of deaths:
Heart disease: 659,041
Cancer: 599,601
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 173,040
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 156,979
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 150,005
Chronic lower respiratory disease, which would cover covid, is already at #4 and at the end of 2020 covid deaths were under 400,000 so this represents less than 3 times the normal level who die annually of lower respiratory diseases. What I can’t believe is accidents are so high up there.
Look at heart disease, how many of those lives you think we could have saved if we just banned fast food establishments? A life is a life right, since people can’t make good eating decisions on their own it’s the government’s responsibly to step in and force them? Just like covid, people can’t make take preventative measures on their own that’s why our government needed to step in and force us? That’s why California, with some of the harshest mandates in the nation, had such low covid cases/hospitalizations/deaths per capita right? ohh… wait a sec…
heart disease isn’t contagious moron
And sorry… since school reopened I’ve told pretty much EVERYONE I love them! The guy at Cucas looked slightly uncomfortable with my burrito order ending in I love you yesterday! I’m sorry!!! We’re back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yup, I think your gathering of 6 friends is completely reasonable and you should just blow off that idiotic restriction. Why is it idiotic? Because you can have breakfast in the morning with two different people, each from a separate household, and then you can meet with two different people, each from separate households, for dinner in the evening. There are no rules preventing this. So by the end of the day, you have met with 2 x 2 different households, which is 4. But wait, what about if each of those other people you met that day had also gathered with two people from different households before meeting you? That’s not unreasonable. You’ll have been effectively exposed to 16 different households that day! It’s exponential (H = x*n^y), so the numbers really explode if you start considering the possibilities. Just enjoy your friends, as it sounds like it will be good for all of you to see each other again, and the case numbers are quite low right now. Doesn’t sound like you guys will be getting all that intimate with each other…but who knows what kind of meeting you all are planning 😉 Stay safe.
I hate BevMo.