SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Restaurants, movie theaters, fitness centers and other businesses will be able to resume indoor activities tomorrow with San Diego County advancing into the less-restrictive red tier of the state's COVID- 19 reopening blueprint.
The state confirmed the move Tuesday when it reported the county's new daily COVID case rate was 6.8 per 100,000 population, the second consecutive week with a sub-10 per 100,000 number, allowing for the shift to the red tier. The rate last week was 8.8 per 100,000 residents.
"This is another strong step forward in our responsible recovery from COVID-19," County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said. "While it has been a long year particularly for our gyms and restaurants, the vaccine has given us hope that we cannot only save lives, but get our way of life back."
The California Department of Public Health updates its county rankings weekly in the state's Blueprint for a Safer Economy, which governs business restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
State officials modified the blueprint last week when the state reached a 2 million threshold for COVID vaccine doses administered in low- income communities hard-hit by the pandemic. The modification allowed counties to move more quickly through the blueprint's four color-coded tiers, allowing San Diego County to escape the restrictive purple tier.
The county also posted a seven-day average of 2.8% of COVID-19 tests returning positive and a 4.2% health equity quartile positivity rate. Both those rates qualify the county for the even less-restrictive orange, or moderate, tier but the state restricts movement between tiers to the worst- performing metric.
A move to the red tier allows for indoor dining and movie theaters at 25% capacity or 100 diners -- whichever is fewer, as well as gyms operating at 10% capacity indoors, and museums, zoos and aquariums at 25% indoors.
Retail businesses in shopping centers can increase capacity from 25% to 50% in the red tier. School districts may reopen without seeking a waiver. Higher education institutions can also reopen to in-person, indoors instruction at 25% capacity or 100 people -- whichever is fewer.
Also, live outdoor events will allow for 20% capacity -- meaning fans could be in the stands for Padres opening day on April 1.
A full list of what changes between tiers can be found at https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/.
A COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Oceanside began administering shots Tuesday. The new walk-in clinic offers vaccines from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday at the North Coastal Health and Human Services Agency building, 1701 Mission Ave. in Oceanside.
The clinic will have the capacity to offer up to 700 shots daily, 200 more doses than the other clinic which was located at 3708 Ocean Ranch Blvd. Appointments will be required at the new clinic and some doses will be set aside for residents living in the 92058 ZIP code.
The county's first and largest vaccination super site will close Saturday. The Petco Park site, which has provided more than 200,000 Moderna vaccines, has closed multiple times due to lack of vaccines, but with the Padres preparing for opening day, its closure was inevitable.
The county, UC San Diego, the city and the Padres opened the superstation on Jan. 11. It has five other superstations in La Jolla, Chula Vista, La Mesa, San Marcos and Del Mar, even as the last one faces supply issues of its own.
While people with underlying health conditions became eligible Monday to sign up for vaccination appointments, Scripps Health said the number of vaccines it received this week necessitates shutting down the Del Mar Fairgrounds COVID-19 vaccination super site Wednesday, Friday and Saturday following a weekend shutdown that started Friday. The site is scheduled to be open Thursday.
Patients who had appointments at the super station on one of those days are being rescheduled automatically through the MyTurn online appointment system.
Medical guidance suggests patients can wait up to six weeks between doses of the vaccine without losing any efficacy.
So far, more than 715,000 -- or 26.6% of San Diego County residents over the age of 16 -- have received at least one dose of the two-shot vaccines and more than 439,000 people -- or 16.3% -- have been fully vaccinated.
San Diego County public health officials reported 178 new COVID-19 infections Monday, increasing the total to 265,649. No new deaths were reported. The death toll remains at 3,452.
Of 8,659 tests reported Monday, 2% returned positive. The 14-day rolling average is 2.9%.
Hospitalizations on Monday increased to 300 from Sunday's 297, while patients in intensive care beds remained at 95. There are 69 staffed, available ICU beds in San Diego County.
There were no new community outbreaks reported Monday, with 15 reported in the last seven days. Cases associated with those outbreaks totaled 62.
On Sunday, the San Diego Unified School District and union representatives announced the next steps to prepare for a classroom reopening the week of April 12. Superintendent Cindy Marten sent an email Sunday night informing parents a tentative deal had been reached regarding reopening plans.
Every family in the district will have the opportunity to choose either an in-person/online hybrid or an online-only model.
Both elementary and secondary students will have the opportunity to be on campus for a six-hour school day, four days per week.