Once Los Angeles County drops to the “red tier,” which should be sometime next week, the below changes will occur. Orange County is behind LA County, but should follow suit in the coming days.
Newly permitted activities and modified safety protocols in the red tier will include the following:
1. Indoor dining: Restaurants can open indoors at 25% max capacity under the following conditions: 8 feet distancing between tables; one household per table with a limit of 6 people; the HVAC system is in good working order and has been evaluated, and to the maximum extent possible ventilation has been increased. Public Health strongly recommends that all restaurant employees interacting with customers indoors are provided with additional masking protection (above the currently required face shield over face masks); this can be fit tested N95 masks, KN95 masks, or double masks and a face shield. In addition, Public Health strongly recommends that all employees working indoors are informed about and offered opportunities to be vaccinated. Outdoor dining can accommodate up to six people per table from 3 different households.
2. Gyms, Fitness Centers, Yoga and Dance Studios: Can open indoors at 10% capacity with masking requirement for all indoor activities.Gyms and dance studios will get to resume indoor operations, up to 10% capacity.
3. Movie theaters: Can open indoors at 25% capacity with reserved seating only where each group is seated with at least 6 feet of distance in all directions between any other groups. movie theaters will be allowed to reopen indoors, up to 25% capacity.
4. Retail and Personal Care Services: Can increase capacity to 50% with masking required at all times and for all services.
5. Museum, Zoos and Aquariums can open indoors at 25% capacity.
6. Indoor Shopping Malls can increase capacity to 50% with common areas remaining closed; food courts can open at 25% capacity adhering to the restaurant guidance for indoor dining.
7. Institutes of Higher Education can re-open all permitted activities with required safety modifications except for residential housing which remains under current restrictions for the Spring semester.
8. Schools are permitted to re-open for in-person instruction for students in grades 7-12 adhering to all state and county directives.
9. Private gatherings can occur indoors with up to 3 separate households, with masking and distancing required at all times. People who are fully vaccinated can gather in small numbers indoors with other people who are fully vaccinated without required masking and distancing.
10. Theme Parks - Capacity will be limited to 15% for parks in counties that are in the red tier; the cap rises to 25% once a county progresses to orange and 35% upon reaching the most lenient tier, yellow.
11. Outdoor sports - Outdoor sports — with fans — and live performances also will be allowed to resume April 1, subject to the following limitations: For counties in the strictest tier, purple, capacity will be limited to 100 people or fewer, and attendance will be regionally limited. Advance reservations will be required, and there will be no concession or concourse sales. In the red tier, capacity will be limited to 20%, with primarily in-seat concession sales. The capacity limit will rise to 33% for counties in the orange tier and 67% for those in the yellow. Attendance will be limited to in-state visitors in the red, orange and yellow tiers.
Supervisor Janice Hahn says "There is some concern and trepidation in having all these re-openings happened especially while we have some of these variants that are becoming a real threat. However, I believe if the state has told us we can be in the red tier, and that means opening certain things, I think we should try to align with the state's requirements as much as we can."
That said, Hahn, a senior who's been vaccinated, says she'll stick to patio dining for now.