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SANTA BARBARA, Calif .– Santa Barbara County is on track to return to the less restrictive red level of the state’s reopening plan next Wednesday.
The door to a new reopening opened on Friday when California hit 2 million inoculations in designated zip codes in the state where communities have been hit hardest by COVID-19.
This step updated the state’s reopening guidelines, raising the threshold to reach the red level to 10 weekly COVID-19 cases per 100,000.
Santa Barbara County is on track to officially hit that metric when the updated numbers are released this next Tuesday. The crossing to the red level would then come into effect on Wednesday.
In the red tier, restaurants can again offer indoor dining at a capacity of 25% or less than 100 people, whichever is less.
Indoor theaters can reopen at 25% as well, while indoor gyms can reopen at 10%.
Indoor museums and aquariums may also reopen at limited capacity. Middle and high schools would be permitted for in-person learning in the red level.
Businesses are already gearing up for a limited return indoors. Harry’s Plaza Cafe in Santa Barbara will once again be able to fill 25% of its large indoor space once the county officially enters the Red Tier.
“I mean, it’s a 50-60 people easily that we could accommodate indoors in a warm environment rather than sitting outside in the cold,” said general manager Kevin Hebert.
Santa Barbara County first moved into red level in the fall before the frightening COVID surge of winter imposed the return of restrictions.
Hopefully businesses won’t have to endure another shutdown this time around.
“As long as vaccination becomes more and more popular for the public, I think it’s the key for us to keep moving forward and not to go back,” Hebert said.
Santa Barbara County Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso shares some of that optimism, saying on Friday she believes “strongly” that the county can avoid slipping back into the most restrictive purple level ever, if people continue to diligently follow health guidelines.
“I think we learned a lot [last fall] in terms of how quickly we can increase our case rates due to lack of membership, ”Do-Reynoso said. “We must adhere to the precautions until we reach this high level of immunization in our community.”
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