By Jondi Gumz
On Tuesday, Santa Cruz County moved from the Purple Tier to the Red Tier of the state’s COVID-19 monitoring system, allowing restaurants, movie theaters, gyms and fitness centers, nail salons, massage and waxing studios, places of worship and museums to open indoors after a month of being limited to outdoor operations.
For restaurants, theaters, museums, places of worship and wedding ceremonies, indoor operations are limited to 25 percent capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer; for yoga studios, dance studios, gyms and fitness centers, the limit is 10 percent capacity.
The state allows libraries to reopen at 50 percent capacity but the Santa Cruz Public Libraries has been dealing with the aftermath of the CZU lightning fires, which prevented access to the Felton and Scotts Valley branches but spared the Boulder Creek branch.
Hair salons and barbershops have been allowed to operate indoors since the state unveiled the new monitoring system and Santa Cruz County was placed in the Purple Tier.
Regal opened its Cinema 9 in Santa Cruz Tuesday after being closed since mid-March.
In Santa Cruz County, the rate of new cases per 100,000 population is 5.3 percent, and the positivity rate is 3.8 percent. The positivity rate would have to fall to 4.9 percent and the new cases rate to 3.9 percent to move into the Orange Tier, allowing fewer restrictions and more activities indoors. Bars, breweries, card rooms and live theater, for example, remain closed; mini-golf, batting cages, bounce centers and laser tag are allowed only outdoors.
The pace of new COVID-19 cases has slowed locally, from 31 on Aug. 13, before the CZU fire forced thousands of San Lorenzo Valley residents to evacuate, to 21 on Aug. 21 when Scotts Valley was evacuated, 18 on Aug. 31, five on Sept. 2 and one on Sept. 3.
As of Tuesday, Santa Cruz County had 1,931 cases overall, including 198 active cases, 10 people hospitalized, including three in intensive care.
Although there are fewer new cases, health officials expect another surge, in part due to the fire evacuations resulted in many people mixing with others from outside their household.
“If the case rate goes up, Santa Cruz County could return to the Purple Tier in 14 days,” said Corinne Hyland, public health officer for the county Health Services Agency.
That would mean returning to oudoor operations for the restaurants, gyms and fitness centers, nail salons, massage and waxing services, places of worship and museums.
School openings for in-person instruction can only be considered once a county has been in the Red Tier for 14 days and are subject to decisions by local school boards and administrators.
No county schools may open for in-person instruction at this time, Hyland said.
For information on the state monitoring system, visit covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy.
For local information on COVID-19, go to www.santacruzhealth.org/coronavirus, call 211 or text “COVID19” to 211211 or call (831) 454-4242 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.