Coronavirus
From purple to red: What Fresno County businesses can reopen from COVID-19 restrictions?
Fresno businesses such as tattoo and massage parlors, gyms and movie theaters can reopen with limited capacity after receiving the green light from the California Department of Public Health.
The state health department moved Fresno County into the red Tier 2 status on Tuesday, according to its website.
Fresno County’s graduation from purple Tier 1 under California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy into the less restrictive red Tier 2 comes after the county’s rate of new daily cases and testing positivity already met the the red tier criteria for the previous two weeks: having an average of fewer than seven new cases each day per 100,000 residents for two consecutive weeks, and 8% or fewer residents testing positive for the virus.
Fresno County so far is the only central San Joaquin Valley county to move into the red tier. Merced, Madera, Tulare and Kings counties all remain in the purple tier. Mariposa is in the yellow tier with minimal restrictions.
Tier 1, color-coded as purple, denotes “widespread” risk for transmission of the novel coronavirus, while red-coded Tier 2 represents “substantial” risk. Tier 3, color-coded orange for “moderate” risk, and yellow-coded Tier 4 for “minimal” risk, round out the four tiers in the state’s blueprint. Each tier offers expanded authority for a wider array of businesses to reopen at increased capacity.
But Dr. Rais Vohra, Fresno County’s interim health officer who has guided the county’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, cautioned that easing the restrictions from purple to red does not give businesses a green light to simply throw open their doors with no limitations.
“We want to open, we need to open safely, and if we’re going to open safely, we need to open gradually,” Vohra said last week. “I think that’s exactly what the blueprint sets out, a gradual reopening to allow things to happen in a safe way.”
That, he added, includes following some of the same guidance that has been in place since the summer. “It’s the fundamentals, really,” Vohra said. “It’s distancing, masking, taking care to make sure that symptomatic people are not interacting with the rest of the crowds.”
“We want to work with every industry as much as we can,” he said. “We just need to make sure they’re operating safely just for the benefit of public health and that whatever they’re doing would be permitted under one of the guidances that’s currently allowed.”
City of Fresno’s plan
Fresno Mayor Lee Brand and the Fresno City Council indicated they will follow a similar course since March in educating businesses and using code enforcement for “egregious” violators.
“As always, we remind our residents that, as more businesses reopen, we all need to do our part to protect ourselves and others from COVID-19 infection,” Brand and councilmembers said in a joint statement on Tuesday. “Our best defense is to continue with the existing health and safety protocols—wear a mask, keep a safe distance from others and wash your hands frequently.”
Business reopenings
Among the businesses that will face relaxed restrictions and resume indoor operations under red Tier 2 are:
- Restaurants with indoor dining at a maximum of 25% or 100 people, whichever is less.
- Houses of worship, weddings and cultural ceremonies at a maximum of 25% or 100 people, whichever is fewer.
- Movie theaters with indoor activities at a maximum of 25% or 100 people, whichever is less. Regal Cinemas in River Park was ready, with the center announcing that the theater would have 10 screens running starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
- Museums and zoos with indoor activities at a maximum 25% capacity.
- Dance studios with indoor activities at a maximum of 10% capacity.
- Gyms and fitness centers, yoga studios with indoor activities at a maximum of 10% capacity.
- Body waxing, tattoo and piercing parlors, massage studios, non-medical electrolysis salons with precautions such as face masks and social distancing.
- Colleges and universities with indoor classes and student activities at a maximum of 25% or 100 people, whichever is less. Some labs and studio arts may open at regular capacity. Virtual classes are encouraged when possible.
- Most retail stores with indoor activities at a maximum of 50% capacity.
- Shopping malls with indoor activities at a maximum of 50% capacity; common areas closed, food courts limited in capacity.
Still closed under the red tier, however, are:
- Nightclubs.
- Bars, breweries, distilleries where meals are not served.
- Live theater.
- Saunas and steam rooms.
- Theme parks, indoor playgrounds such as bounce centers, ball pits or laser tag.
Vohra said Friday that Fresno County has no specific plans to enforce coronavirus limitations with penalties, instead imploring business owners for voluntary compliance. “We do need everyone to be mindful that the rules exist for a reason and that we expect everyone to follow the rules,” he said.
“Whenever we say that restaurants need to be at 25% capacity, that’s very intentional. Same thing with the gyms being able to open at 10% capacity,” Vohra added. “We expect everyone to abide by that. Any violations will really just risk us having to go back to the purple tier.”
Customers and patrons can also use their own judgment in assessing whether a business or restaurant is complying with the red tier limitations. “It’s really up to everyone to do their part. We’ve said that before. That doesn’t change if we go from purple to red tier,” Vohra said.
“Remember, if you go to a place of business that seems too crowded, you have a choice. Just walk right back out,” he said. “Because if it seems too crowded or it looks like they’re not following the rules, then that’s putting you in danger and you have a choice to go somewhere else that’s actually following the rules.
“Hopefully people will take it upon themselves to exert that social pressure to make sure everyone complies,” Vohra added.
A county must spend three weeks in the red tier, and meet the criteria for orange Tier 3 for two consecutive weeks, before it can be promoted to Tier 3. Tier 3 thresholds are fewer than four new daily cases per 100,000 residents and a testing positivity rate of under 5%.
Expecting an increase in cases
County health leaders said they expect an increase in coronavirus cases as economic activity resumes – just as the fall and winter cold and flu season ramps up.
“Going into the fall, it’s concerning that we’ll have more wintertime viruses that kind of confound the picture at the same time we get ready to open some of the schools and some of our other industries start to reopen,” Vohra said Friday. “We’re going to anticipate that our case counts may go up. We’re just hoping that they don’t go up at the same velocity that they went up earlier in the summer.”
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