Stanislaus County approved for less restrictive coronavirus tier. Businesses to reopen
Stanislaus County was approved Tuesday for the less restrictive red tier in the state’s coronavirus reopening strategy, meaning a number of business sectors can reopen or expand capacity for serving customers.
Jody Hayes, county chief executive, said at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting the county’s status changed from the most restrictive purple tier to red at about 11:26 a.m. Hayes said restaurants that were prepared could immediately serve lunch indoors to customers.
The new status allows indoor restaurant dining at 25 percent capacity. Retail stores and shopping centers can expand to 50 percent capacity and fitness centers and yoga studios can now open at 10 percent capacity.
The relaxed restrictions also give new life to movie theaters at 25 percent capacity or 100 people maximum, whichever is less; as well as museums and zoos (25 percent), personal care services and tattoo and piercing shops.
Worship services may resume indoors at 25 percent capacity or a 100-person cap and weddings can be held indoors within the rules.
All businesses are required to follow safety precautions including masks, enhanced cleaning protocols and more.
The county was able to change tiers by meeting the state’s criteria for test positivity and daily new cases for two consecutive weeks. According to the state, Stanislaus County’s positive test rate was 3.7 percent, less than half the state-required 8 percent. Its adjusted case rate of 6.3 per 100,000 population was within the 7 cases per 100,000 criteria.
Hayes said county residents and business owners need to keep following the guidance for preventing the spread of COVID-19 illness. The county has to remain in the red tier for three weeks before it can move to orange, which would further relax restrictions on the local economy.
Stanislaus County seeing slight rise
The county could also slide back to the most restrictive purple tier if the virus sparks a significant number of new outbreaks. Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, the county’s health officer, told supervisors Tuesday she was watching a slight rise in cases in the past week and would like to get the numbers down again.
The case count should be below 40 per day to stay in the red tier.
“We still have a lot of work ahead of us,” Hayes said. “If anything our team has seen very clearly that if we don’t stay focused over the next few weeks, we could easily slide back on our progress.”
In Tuesday’s state update, the county’s case rate was adjusted upward somewhat because the number of coronavirus tests locally was below the state median and test positivity was higher than 3.5 percent. To get its testing numbers up, the county is encouraging people with symptoms, or those who were exposed to a coronavirus case, to get tested to see if they are positive or negative.
The county is considering an option of testing on Saturdays, and plans to bring mobile tests to Empire and Patterson. The county has weekday test locations at the Salida library, 4835 Sisk Road, the Neighborhood Center at Marshall Park, 275 Chicago Ave., in west Modesto, and the Rube Boesch Center, 420 Orange St., in Turlock.
While inside dining could commence at 25% as soon as the county officially went from the purple to the red tier, many restaurants took Tuesday to plan and organize for their inside reopenings. Restaurant staff have been through this once before, in late May, when indoor dining was allowed again only to be rolled back about a month later.
Lily Jauregui, general manager of Taqueria El Maguey in east Modesto’s Century Center, said they plan to reopen their inside dining by the weekend. They said while they’ve been able to expand their outside dining, it’s been hit-and-miss in terms of sales, with some weekends so busy there is a wait list and other times almost no one.
“We’re learning every day and just rolling with the punches,” she said. “It’s been unpredictable, one week we’ll be slammed, then it will be quiet. We’re going to take the time to do it right.”
Fuzio in Modesto looking forward to inside dining
At downtown Modesto’s Fuzio Universal Bistro, owner Thomas Lopes planned to use Tuesday to get the restaurant’s dining room back in shape and his staff up-to-date on safety protocols. They’ll be able to open with about 50 to 60 inside, and another 60 outside on their expanded patio. Then they plan to start inside dining with lunch Wednesday.
He said the timing of the reopening was perfect, with cold weather approaching. He had held off on buying expensive outside heaters and rain canopies, hoping they would be able to reopen before the winter weather arrived. Still they plan to be cautious with reopening.
“The last thing we want to do is reel this back. We want to do this right and stay open,” he said. “We’re going to continue and take this like a blessing and not take it for granted. We really don’t want to to go backwards.”
One Turlocker was not ready to return to dining indoors at restaurants. Kim J., a nurse, said she doesn’t plan any changes in her daily life because she wants to protect herself and others. She doesn’t feel comfortable taking off a mask to dine indoors.
“I think a barrier is still required,” she said. “There’s just too many possibilities out there.”
The county’s move into the red tier will permit schools to reopen for in-person instruction at all grade levels after a two-week waiting period. Decisions on reopening campuses for students through 12th grade will be made by individual school districts and private schools.
Some question all the closures
In Turlock, Trinity W. said she looks forward to her children returning to school. Her seventh grader with ADHD is struggling to focus at home, she said, and her high school senior has not been able to play football for Denair High School.
Trinity questioned whether closing gyms and indoor dining reduced the spread of the coronavirus, saying that she thinks most people haven’t been following public health guidelines. Personally, she said she doesn’t necessarily avoid social gatherings.
“I do put my mask on out of respect for other people or when I go into an establishment, but for me personally, it doesn’t really scare me,” the Denair resident said. “I feel like it’s just a virus. I know it’s bad, but I feel like it’s just a matter of time before everyone gets it and either gets over it or doesn’t.”
When it comes to indoor capacity limits in the red tier, Turlock resident Gina Woodall said she thinks reopening should happen slightly faster so people can decide whether to go on their own.
“If I’m worried I stay home or I wear my mask when I go somewhere,” Woodall said as she waited for an outdoor table at Memo’s Cocina with her granddaughter and great grandson. “I think individually we know what to do to protect ourselves and other people.”
Bee Staff Writers Kristin Lam and Marijke Rowland contributed to this report.
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 12:06 PM.
