On Wednesday, Solano County will become the final Bay Area county to move from the red tier to the less restrictive orange tier of reopening.
The decision, announced by the state's Department of Public Health on Tuesday, is based on data over the past two weeks from Solano County that shows continued decline in COVID-19 cases to below the six per 100,00 people rate threshold needed to qualify for the orange tier.
"We are seeing a substantial decrease in the spread of COVID-19 in our community, therefore enabling us to move down to the next tier and expanding capacity for our businesses," Bela Matyas, Solano County Health Officer said. "While we are nearing the end of the pandemic, we continue to encourage our community members to get vaccinated to protect themselves from severe illness and death. Solano Public Health remains dedicated to eliminating barriers to vaccinate the community against COVID-19 by focusing on providing pop-up clinics – meeting people where they are."
Sonoma joins Alameda, Napa, and Contra Costa as the Bay Area counties currently in the orange tier. San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties have long been in the least restrictive yellow tier.
Marin County joined the yellow tier on Tuesday.
The announcements come exactly two weeks before California plans to lift all COVID-19 restrictions statewide.
The move to the orange tier now allows Solano County businesses to make the following changes:
- Restaurants that serve meals, movie theaters and places of worship may now open indoors to either 50% capacity or a maximum of 200 people, whichever is fewer.
- Breweries, wineries and distilleries that don’t serve food and gyms may also open indoors with modifications, including at 25% capacity, or 100 people, whichever is fewer.
- Graduation ceremonies can be held outdoors at 33% capacity with modifications.
- Retail stores may operate indoors without modifications.
