Merced County moves to COVID-19 ‘red tier.’ What local businesses can reopen now?
Many Merced County businesses — including movie theaters, tattoo parlors and gyms — can now reopen with limited capacity, as state officials Tuesday gave the go ahead for the county to move into a less restrictive status during the coronavirus pandemic.
The California Department of Public Health moved Merced County to red Tier 2 status from the purple Tier 1 under California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, according to the state’s website.
The move comes after the county’s rate of new daily cases and testing positivity met the the red tier criteria for the previous two weeks. That means Merced County had to maintain an average of fewer than seven new cases each day per 100,000 residents for two consecutive weeks, plus 8% or fewer residents testing positive for the virus.
“Allowing businesses more flexibility and allowing schools to offer kids in-person classes is important for all of our residents in Merced,” said Merced Mayor Mike Murphy. “It’s important for everything we do with commerce and education. It’s encouraging to see those numbers improve and we look forward to that continuing.”
Merced County currently has 6.8 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents and a positivity test rate at 3.9%, according to the state website. Thus far 148 Merced County residents have died from the virus, and 9,081 have tested positive since the beginning of the pandemic.
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.
If Merced County maintains its red tier status for two weeks, schools will be able to reopen for in-person instruction. According to the state’s website, under the red tier status local school and health officials can decide to open elementary schools, and school officials may decide to conduct in-person instruction for a limited set of students in small cohorts.
Businesses Reopening
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.
- 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.
The Merced Union High School District recently announced its Board of Trustees voted to allow district schools to allow in-person classes as an option beginning on Nov. 2 if Merced County’s coronavirus data continues to improve.
Murphy says he’s not surprised Merced County has graduated to the red tier.
“It’s a trend that has been happening for a while,” Murphy said. “We had so many cases that it took a while to get to this point. The trend has been consistent. It’s encouraging to see that it held.”
Despite the red tier status, however, the two largest movie theaters in Merced, the Regal Hollywood Merced and Regal UC Regency will remain closed.
The theater chain’s owner Cineworld Group announced Monday that its movie theaters across the U.S. and Britain are closed temporarily due to a lack of blockbuster releases to supply the market.
This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 1:04 PM.
