EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. — With El Dorado County moved to California's red tier of coronavirus restrictions along with several other counties, dining indoors is allowed at 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer. As the county has been in less restrictive tiers and ahead of neighboring counties before, officials expected more non-residents to visit, but said to continue to practice safety precautions.
"Of course we'll see an influx of out of county residents," said Carla Hass, the El Dorado County director of communications. "We just hope that, no matter whether you're a county resident or an out-of-county resident, you continue to do things in a safe way even though we get to do more things than some of our county partners."
Hass says while she hoped to her county would get to the orange tier soon and eventually resume to a sense of normalcy, the pandemic isn't over yet.
"The reason that we're in the red tier is because our residents have done the things that have been asked of them to get us to this point," Hass explained. "It's the mask-wearing, it's the physical distancing, it's the handwashing. It's the making sure you don't gather with people you're not supposed to be doing those things with."
Hass said she is happy to get to the less restrictive tier, a feeling that was also shared by Lou Dedier, a local business owner.
On Wednesday, Dedier was able to get people back into booths at his El Dorado Hills restaurant, Mimosa House, for the first time in months.
"We’re looking forward to getting back to new normal and 25% is a good starting point," said Dedier, who owns several Mimosa Houses in Placer, Sacramento and El Dorado County.
Other counties in the Sacramento region could move as soon as next week if they can bring coronavirus cases down.
