Three more Bay Area counties are expected to move into the orange reopening tier this week as virus numbers continue to improve.
That would allow non-essential offices to reopen for the first time in over a year, although only at 25% capacity. Wineries, breweries and distilleries that do not serve food can reopen indoors, and all bars can open for outdoor service.
Marin, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties are all expected to join the orange tier on Tuesday as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to drop.
"We expect San Francisco to go into the orange tier on March 24th, we are on track," said San Francisco Mayor London Breed last week.
But she stressed that the city will likely not reopen as much as the orange tier would allow.
"We will probably provide some additional expansion of things that we’re already doing and add office space, but ultimately we are going to continue to be probably more conservative than the state will allow in order to make sure that I never have to get up here and close down our city again."
Under the orange tier many other businesses that are already open would be allowed to expand to 50% capacity.
Marin, Santa Clara and San Francisco counties all currently meet the state’s requirements for the orange tier. San Francisco’s test positivity rate is at just 0.9% and Santa Clara County is at 1.2%, both below the statewide average of 1.6%.
San Mateo County was the first in the region to join the orange tier last week.
The rest of the region remains in the red tier.
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