California hits vaccine benchmark, paving way for Sonoma County to reopen more businesses

After more than seven months in the most restrictive stage of the state’s community reopening plan, Sonoma County finally gets to further reopen and expand business operations on Sunday.

The news was announced Friday by state and local health officials, after California reached a key vaccination milestone — getting shots in the arms of 2 million of the state’s poorest residents.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of health and human services, confirmed Sonoma, Mendocino and 11 other counties statewide are now eligible to resume more business and public activities.

Hitting that vaccination threshold triggered a state reassessment of the county’s progress curtailing coronavirus transmission and made it easier for the county to qualify to advance from the most restrictive purple tier to the red stage of the state’s four-part community reopening plan.

“It’s a really positive thing for the county, and everybody’s been waiting for some of the things that will be allowed under the red tier,” said Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer. “I also think it’s the right time because our (virus) case rate numbers are dropping.”

The county has been stuck in the purple tier, reserved for those areas among California’s 58 counties with widespread COVID-19 circulation, since the state launched its Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening road map in late August. Come Sunday, there will be 33 counties across the state moving into the red tier. Next Tuesday, Lake County will be among another group of 13 counties expected to advance from the most restrictive purple stage.

Exiting the purple tier will allow local restaurants to resume indoor dining at 25% customer capacity and several other businesses could expand operations. For example, gyms could resume workouts inside at 10% capacity and grocery stores could expand from 50% to full capacity.

“The move to the red tier is the most hopeful news that our community has received in a long time. But now is not the time to let up. We need to continue to be smart and safe,” said Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

“That means wearing our masks, avoiding large gatherings and, most of all, getting tested. Getting tested is one of the best tools we have at our disposal to control the spread of the virus and to further reopen our economy.”

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a statewide vaccine push into the most impoverished California neighborhoods — home to 8 million residents. State officials said that as soon as COVID-19 inoculations in disadvantaged communities reached 2 million doses, they would make the key viral transmission benchmark for reopening slightly easier.

Since the 2 million vaccination target is achieved, a county in the purple tier like Sonoma needs a daily virus infection rate no higher than 10 per 100,000 residents, up from the previous requirement of 7. Sonoma County’s case rate Tuesday — the latest weekly assessment by the state — sat at 9, and the adjusted level was 8.2 per 100,000, which would qualify the county to expand community reopening as long as its virus test positivity rates don’t jump.

Sonoma County has been on the cusp of expanded reopening for a couple of weeks.

For local residents and businesses alike, the stiff restrictions have been painful. There’s continued isolation and at-home virtual education for most students and massive financial hemorrhaging at many companies.

Peter Rumble, CEO of the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber, said many business owners are eager to broaden operations, a move that is likely to increase employment opportunities and enable them to recall workers laid off last year due to stiff pandemic restrictions and lockdowns.

But Rumble said the county finally going forward one stage along the state’s reopening road map represents only a first step and he warned against overzealous reaction.

“It’s fantastic, it’s fantastic, but we’re still in the red and we still need to be really cautious about the (public health) precautions we need to take,” he said. “The worst thing that we could do now is fall back into the purple through irresponsible behavior.”

In addition to lessening the burden on businesses, the progress in curtailing the virus allows Sonoma County schools in all grades, from transitional kindergarten through grade 12, to resume with certain conditions and modifications in-person instruction on campuses.

Meanwhile, Parkpoint Health Club in Healdsburg plans to reopen for indoor workouts on Sunday, said Jennifer Anderson Couch, general manager of the company’s three locations. Parkpoint Health Club Sonoma and in Santa Rosa will resume indoor operations Monday, allowing members to use 10% of the club’s space, as required by the state guidelines.

“It will be really, almost to the day, a full year since this impacted our business,” Anderson Couch said. “We are so excited to see people in the club.”

Parkpoint sites have been open for outdoor workouts and lap swimming in the pools for several months of 2020. But some members have stuck to virtual workouts, and Anderson Couch foresees that option sticking around even as more people get vaccinated and the pandemic eases.

“It has really turned our business upside down,” she said of the pandemic. “As we’ve anticipated opening, we’ve been really looking at it as if it is a new business.”

For other local businesses, Sonoma County’s transition into a looser phase of business operations will not immediately spur changes.

Toraj Soltani, owner of Mac’s Deli and Café in downtown Santa Rosa, said it will take a few days before his restaurant will resume serving diners inside.

“We’ll probably need most of next week to even figure out who wants to work and what kind of staff we can assemble. Also to get our regular supply chain going again,” Soltani said. “It’s not going to be like a shotgun thing.”

Santa Rosa Cinemas will take until the end of March to prepare to welcome moviegoers back into the theater, managing partner Daniel Tocchini said.

During that time, he said, staff will check all equipment, including projectors, and make sure all the theaters are cleaned. Employees will be trained to run an in-theater experience that keeps social distancing and mask wearing the norm.

Online ticket buying, a pre-pandemic shift, will help people avoid lines at the box office. So will the 25% maximum capacity allowed in theaters.

“It’s exciting that we’re gonna get started again,” Tocchini said, lamenting that he’s experienced a lot of challenges running local theaters but “nothing like” the pandemic.

In Sebastopol, the Rialto Cinemas theater will collect feedback from the community before making a decision when to reopen, said owner Ky J. Boyd.

Boyd said “anyone and everyone” is welcome to submit comments on the Rialto website.

“There’s just been a lot of changes and we wanted to really take a scientific look at where people’s attitudes and perceptions have changed and where they haven’t to make an informed decision,” he said.

While participating in the exuberance, Mase, the county’s health officer, expressed caution, too. She reminded people that in the fall many Bay Area counties had advanced to less-restrictive tiers only to see their COVID-19 infections spike after further reopening businesses and more of public life. But the situation is a little different today, she said.

“Now we have the vaccine, so that is going to help us keep the case rate down because transmission is going to be lower among vaccinated people,” Mase said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.