Additional establishments will now be permitted to expand operations following months of COVID-related restrictions as San Mateo County moves from the state’s most restrictive purple tier to the less restrictive red tier.
“Hallelujah, we are out of the purple and into the red,” said Supervisor David Canepa in a press release following the state’s announcement Tuesday morning.
Counties in the red tier, showing a “substantial” risk of spreading COVID-19, are permitted to operate indoor dining, theaters, places of worship, museums and zoos at either 25% or a capacity of 100 people depending on which is fewer. Malls and all indoor retail will be permitted to operate at 50% capacity while gyms and fitness centers will be allowed to open at 10% capacity.
During a press briefing Tuesday, state officials announced nail salons would be opening statewide regardless of tier placement. The service is included in the list of businesses permitted to reopen with modifications within the red tier.
“What each and every one of us can do is to commit to patronizing our local businesses,” Warren Slocum, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, said in a press release. “Let’s be safe, be healthy and help ensure our small businesses are with us today and tomorrow and the future.”
After remaining in the purple tier for three weeks, the county maintained having fewer than seven new daily cases per 100,000 residents and maintained a positive test rate below 8% for two weeks. Currently, the county has 6.8 new cases for every 100,000 residents and a positivity rate of 4.5%, according to the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy COVID-19 dashboard.
“What this means is that you — the residents of San Mateo County — have made huge sacrifices to help slow the spread of COVID-19,” County Manager Mike Callagy said in a press release. “We have precious few moments to celebrate in these unprecedented times. But this is something we should all be happy about now that so many of our businesses can reopen and so many of you can get back to work.”
For schools to reopen, the county must remain in the red tier for two consecutive weeks. For a return to campus, a school must be able to implement the Four Pillars of the San Mateo County Office of Education’s Pandemic Recovery Framework, including health and hygiene protocol, physical distancing, face coverings and limiting gatherings. A COVID-19 testing plan for staff must also be in place.
The county will also have to remain in the red tier for at least three consecutive weeks before moving into the next less restrictive orange tier. To enter the orange “moderate” tier, the county will have to maintain a positivity rate below 4.9% while also reporting 3.9 or fewer new cases per 100,000 residents for two consecutive weeks.
Newly reopened businesses could be forced to reclose or return to limited operations if the county is unable to maintain the less restrictive tier’s criteria for two consecutive weeks. If either of the county’s new case rate or positivity rate falls into the purple tier, the stricter restrictions will be implemented.
“This remains far from over,” said San Mateo County’s Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow. “To get out of this situation depends on all of us. Our collective best course of action: No gatherings outside of immediate households, use facial coverings extensively and social distancing.”
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(4) comments
Do these thresholds for SM County, comingle results for the population as one unit? Meaning, the numbers could be skewed by, say, elder care facilities; while at the same time, the rest of the population (children, youth, young adults, working age people), would, as a separate group, meet thresholds for the least restrictive status?
go to smchealth.org, cove-19, dashboard, results by age and you'll see that most of the cases by age are in the 20 to 60 year ages, not the elder folks; therefore, the results for the population are not skewed by them. However, most of the deaths are in the older people.
Also, it would be helpful if the County Health did a better job on the dashboard!!! But I think they don't want to give us reliable data and information.
If the county dashboard is reliable, which it doesn't seem to be even taken into consideration that it is difficult to get all the data, then the number of tests/day or 14 day average for September is around 1000 and not the counties 1800/day as stated by county administrators. They could do a better job. Less tests, less positives/100,000 population, lower tier. It's going to be difficult to go lower, unless the county has a faster test turn around time, faster isolation of infected people, better quarantining, and better reinforcement of prevention measures.
Statistics are so "interesting"! How do you go from a 6.8 test positivity rate to a 6.6 positivity rate? You adjust it. The adjusted case rate is based on the median testing volume instead of the average; find the state median and adjust. Interesting.
Also according to the coronavirus daily tracker the Mercury News reported on Sunday that San Mateo County had a 93.3 cases/100K population Sept. 5-Sept.18. which is quite a difference from the State and County. Statistics! Good Luck!
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