Sonoma County has now moved into the orange tier, the second most lenient tier of the California Blueprint for a Safer Economy. The move was announced on April 6 and was made official the next day, April 7. California met another goal of four million people in low-income neighborhoods receiving vaccines, so the tier restrictions were adjusted again. With a virus transmission rate of 4.2 new cases per 100,000 people, Sonoma County was cleared to move to the orange tier.
When California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state’s initiative to vaccinate two million people in low-income neighborhoods, he also announced that when this goal was met, the state’s tier restrictions would be adjusted. That goal was met mid-March and sent Sonoma County into the red tier on March 14.
The orange tier means quite a lot for Sonoma County, especially because the county had been stuck in the most restrictive purple tier for over nine months. In just over three weeks, the county made the jump from the red tier to the orange. According to Martin Espinoza at The Press Democrat, restaurants can now expand indoor service to 50% capacity or 200 people, whichever is less. Retail stores can open to full capacity as can libraries.
With almost the entire state in the orange tier now, California officials have started to discuss reopening. June 16 is said to be the statewide date to mark the end of the tier system in California. The state’s mask mandate will stay in place and Dr. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County’s health officer, is still cautious of lifting pandemic restrictions. Individual California counties will have control over other restrictions, like social distancing.
According to Luke Money and Taryn Luna at the Los Angeles Times, state officials have said that in order for the state to stick to the June reopening date, there needs to be enough vaccines for all eligible citizens and low numbers of people hospitalized with Coronavirus.
In an article by the San Francisco Chronicle, Susie Neilson interviewed several experts on what reopening means. These experts said that there will still be some restrictions, like masks and social distancing. The yellow tier, currently the most lenient tier of the blueprint, describes most businesses as open indoors with some modifications. One of the experts, Robert Siegel, said that perhaps this reopening will see that all businesses will be open indoors. Both experts, while hopeful, said that things will probably never go back to what was considered normal in 2019.
With all of the rapid changes in COVID-19 restrictions and promises of a statewide reopening, students at Sonoma State University are looking towards the Fall semester with questions and cautious optimism. According to the University, the county’s move to the orange tier means little change for the school. Currently, the Recreation Center and the athletics weight rooms are open to a larger capacity, most recently increasing indoor occupancy from 10% to 25%. Even with an increase in on-campus activity, the University said that COVID-19 safety protocols will stay in place, such as wearing masks, social distancing and sanitization of campus facilities.
In order to keep up with the ever-changing status of COVID-19, the University said, “We will continue to adjust planning based on federal, state, and local guidance.” While SSU emails students with important information, students can also find information on the University’s COVID-19 page on the school’s website. There, students can find information about on-campus monitoring, what is open on campus, vaccines for students and more.