COMMUNITY NEWS
When Will County Enter Orange Tier? By Jondi Gumz
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ith new COVID-19 cases back to levels of last May, Santa Cruz County is poised to move after three weeks in the Red Tier to the less restrictive Orange Tier. Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel Newel anticipates moving to the Orange Tier by March 31. As of March 10, restaurants, gyms and fitness centers, movie theaters and museums were allowed to open indoors with restrictions for the first time since mid-November. Capacity for retail stores and shopping centers increased to 50 percent, shortening the lines at Trader Joe’s. The Orange Tier allows 50 percent capacity (up from 25 percent) for restaurants, movie theaters, museums, and places of worship and 25 percent (up from 10 percent) for gyms and fitness centers, 25 percent at dance studios, bowling alleys and climbing walls, with wineries and breweries allowed indoor service at 25 percent. Santa Cruz County’s adjusted COVID case rate is 3.5 per day per 100,000, below the rate of 3.9 required for the Orange Tier, and the test positivity rate is 1.3 percent. Since March 13, wineries and breweries without meals were allowed to have outdoor service with a 90-minute time limit and 8 p.m. close. Starting April 1, the state is allowing outdoor live events at 20 percent capacity and 15 percent capacity at amusement parks — such as the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, which will open April 1. As of June 1, the state will allow overnight sleepaway camps. CineLux Capitola reopened March 12. Capitola Beach Co. plans to offer surf lesson and rentals on April 1. Santa Cruz Shakespeare plans a small, safe outdoor live season in July and August. Arts Council Santa Cruz County plans to resume Open Studios in October. The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History is opening to members. Newel lifted her prohibition on visits at nursing homes and assisted living centers, allowing family members to see loved ones after restrictions to prevent the contagious coronavirus from spreading kept them apart for a year. Deaths at those facilities have slowed to a trickle. 200 Have Died OVID-19 has claimed the lives of 57,000 Californians and 200 Santa Cruz
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County residents, with 51 percent of those local deaths at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Locally, 78 percent of those who died were age 70 or older and 78 percent had other health conditions. A year after the pandemic began, case rates have plummeted, and with 16 million vaccine does administered, 39 counties are in the Red Tier and nine in the Orange Tier. On March 15, Soquel Union Elementary School District reopened kindergarten for inperson instruction on a hybrid schedule, which brings back half the students to campus on alternating days. The federal and state six-foot distancing requirement between desks is why most public schools are offering hybrid instruction, with half the students on campus and half online, rather than bring all students back at the same time. Private schools with smaller class sizes have brought all the students back because they have the space to meet the distancing requirement. Research is scanty on how much distance is protective and Indiana changed its requirement to three feet, in line with the World Health Organization guidance. An MIT study this summer concluded distancing rules are based on outdated science and factors such as ventilation and occupancy and exposure time made a difference. On March 19, the federal Centers for Disease Control changed its guidance to say three feet of distance is protective, and the state followed suit on March 20. Fall: In-Person Instruction n a letter to parents March 24, all of the local school superintendents said switching from a hybrid schedule to full reopening “would require vast environmental changes to classrooms and redesign of our instructional programs,” with some conditions requiring negotiations with bargaining units. The letter added, “However, we are confident that as long as community transmission of COVID-19 remains low, all public schools in Santa Cruz County will be fully open for in-person instruction in the fall 2021.” Two cases of the B117 variant, which spreads more easily, were reported in January and February but Newel said a large surge of cases forecasted for March and April due to virus variants is unlikely.
Dr. Andrew Smythe, of Dignity Health Medical–Dominican, vaccinates a community member at the Harbor High School vaccination site. On Friday, the county reported only three people hospitalized with COVID, including one in intensive care, only 200 active cases, and more than 122,000 negative test results. Newel said all K-12 educators in the county have had an opportunity to receive their first dose of vaccine. She urged everyone to get a vaccine once they are eligible and in the meantime, wear masks and practice social distancing in public so as to protect unvaccinated elders and those who are medically vulnerable.
Santa Cruz County has ranked in the top 10 in the state for vaccinations per capita. The state dashboard reports 142,000 doses have been given to county residents, more than half of the population. The state has required 70 percent of doses go to people age 65 and up who are at greater risk of dying, 30 percent to people in riskier jobs — and 10 percent set aside for educational and child care workers. “COVID Update” page 14
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www.tpgonlinedaily.com Capitola Soquel Times / April 2021 / 9
