WOODLAND, Calif. — Yolo and Stanislaus counties are moving to less restrictive tiers of California’s coronavirus reopening plan.
Counties that move tiers on Tuesday are able to loosen their guidelines for businesses and activities starting Wednesday following the blueprint put forward by the California Department of Public Health.
The counties making a move from the purple tier to the red tier include Kern, Nevada and Stanislaus Counties. Lassen, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Trinity and Yolo counties are moving from the red tier to the orange tier. Sierra County is moving to the the least restrictive yellow tier.
The move for Yolo and other counties move into California’s “moderate” tier for coronavirus restrictions. That means fewer limits on businesses, including the reopening of indoor bowling alleys and outdoor bars that do not serve meals. Multiple shifts among California’s 58 counties mean 94% of the most populous state’s residents no longer are under the most severe restrictions.
Counties can move tiers after remaining on the tier they are on for a minimum of three weeks and keeping their numbers down to the next tiers' standards for two consecutive weeks.
California has tied its reopening plan to its efforts to vaccinate within communities with people who are more likely to struggle from contracting the coronavirus. California first accelerated reopening starting Feb. 12 when the state changed the guidelines for counties to move to the red tier, coinciding with when it administered over 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to people in less healthy communities.
Within the next couple of months, California should surpass its goal of vaccinating 4 million of these people. Then the state will make it easier for counties to be in the orange and yellow tiers of its reopening plan.
The new law gives employees the option to get paid retroactively for the time they had to take off due to COVID-related issues.
