Ventura and Riverside counties joined the economic reopening process on Wednesday, moving from the purple to the red tier.
The step allows more businesses to offer services inside their premises, while others will be able to increase capacity, maintaining the protocols implemented by the authorities.
The red tier implies that:
- Restaurants and cinemas can go back to operating indoors up to 25% of their capacity, or 100 people, whichever is less.
- Museums, zoos and aquariums can go back indoors up to 25% of their capacity.
- Gyms and fitness centers can go back indoors up to 10% of their capacity.
- Retail stores and shopping centers can increase capacity to 50%.
Public middle and high schools may also resume in-person instruction, provided they have approved safety plans to do so.
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“Wednesday's news of moving to the red tier is a positive and hopeful sign of more good things to come. If we continue to work together, we can maintain this momentum. We can safely reopen and continue to see our numbers drop, if we all do our part to keep the coronavirus at bay,” said Riverside County Board of Supervisors Chair Karen Spiegel.
The county had previously been on the red tier under the governor's “Safer Economy Plan” between mid-September and mid-October, but the CDPH returned it to purple tier limitations due to rising rates of infection and below average tests.
"This is great news for our community and an opportunity to work together to support our local businesses as we move forward in reopening our economy," County Executive Officer Michael Powers said in a statement.
Residents will need to continue to wear face covers and maintain social distancing, consistent with the state reopening rule framework.
"We are pleased to see the case count decline, vaccination rates increase, and our residents' continued commitment to wearing masks, social distancing, and staying outdoors as much as possible when interacting with people outside of their home," said Dr. Robert Levin, public health officer, in the statement issued by the county.
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