California moves Marin, 5 other counties to less-restrictive orange reopening status

As new COVID-19 infection rates continue to decline in Marin County, the state said Tuesday it will advance the county from the red tier (“substantial” risk of infections) to the orange tier (“moderate”) in California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, effective Wednesday.

The North Bay’s five other counties remain in the red tier. Other counties moving to orange on Wednesday will be San Francisco, Santa Clara, Trinity, Lassen and Yolo.

As of Wednesday, Marin County’s restaurants can operate indoors at 50% capacity or 200 people, whichever is fewer. Retail establishments and indoor malls are allowed to operate at full capacity with COVID-19 guidance in place, and food courts can open at 50% capacity or 200 people, whichever is lower.

In addition, movie theaters can increase capacity to 50% or 200 people, whichever is fewer; and gyms and fitness centers can boost capacity to 25% and open indoor pools. Indoor hot tubs, saunas and steam rooms must remain closed.

Marin County advances to the orange tier with a test positivity rate of 1.2%, lower than the 2% to 4.9% range needed to progress. Its adjusted new case rate is 2.5, landing within the 1 to 3.9 per 100,000 residents requirement. And the county’s health-equity test positivity rate is 2.1%, lower than the 5.3% requirement for residents in disadvantaged communities.

Although case rates have continued to improve over the past month, residents are being cautioned that more progress must be made before the next milestone is reached, Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County’s public health officer, stated in a press release.

“The next four weeks are pivotal for us,” Willis said. “We saw an uptick in cases last week and with variant cases increasing, we don’t want to drop the ball before we reach the goal line. Letting your guard down puts us at risk of slipping backward. While pandemic fatigue is real, we must stay the course to help Marin reach tier 4.”

Napa County also is on track to advance to the orange tier, effective March 31, if it can maintain its current metrics, said spokeswoman Janet Upton. As of today, the county has a test positivity rate of 0.9%, an adjusted new case rate of 2.8, and a health-equity test positivity rate of 1.1%.

Sonoma County’s coronavirus metrics continued to show improvement this week, and the county remains solidly in the red tier of the state’s plan after exiting out of the most restrictive purple tier last week, as reported by The Press Democrat. A county must remain in a tier for a minimum of three weeks before being able to advance to a less restrictive tier.

Sonoma County is nearing eligibility for the next less-restrictive orange tier; both its overall test positivity and test positivity in disadvantaged communities meet orange-tier benchmarks, according to the outlet. The county need only reduce its transmission rate from the current 5.6 daily cases per 100,000 residents to 3.9 or less.

Counties in the orange tier can also begin to reopen outdoor venues for sports and live performances, with capacity limited at 20%. Reservations and assigned seating will be required, and only people living within 120 miles of the region can attend an event. Maximum capacity expands to 33% starting April 1.

This story has been updated to include comment from Marin County Public Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis, and tier status updates for Napa and Sonoma counties.

Press Democrat Staff Writer Martin Espinoza contributed to this report.