SAN JOSE – After months of having some of the strictest COVID-19 shutdown regulations in the state, Santa Clara County is dropping its go-it-alone approach and moving closer to mainstream California, due to declining virus cases and increasing vaccinations .
Public health officials said they are relaxing restrictions on outdoor activities – including youth sports, as previously announced – starting Friday. And when the county moves to the state’s red tier for reopening, which is expected to happen Wednesday, they will allow for the return of indoor dining and some gatherings, with capacity and distance restrictions.
The anticipated restart of indoor dining – with a 25 percent capacity – was welcome news to Kostas Perakis, who runs the family-owned Tasso’s Restaurant and Bar on the Southwest Expressway in San Jose.
“We are going to open up and go (back) to normal life. I love that, ”said Perakis Friday.
Like many restaurateurs, Perakis has tried to stay afloat with takeout and some al fresco dining, but said the cost of outdoor tents, heaters and decreased customer traffic still meant sales fell by as much as 70%. He added that there is no way to emphasize the difference that dining indoors makes to him.
“People like security and don’t like being out in the cold,” he said.
The changes were announced amid a wider rollout of vaccinations and a declining number of cases and hospitalizations. They also hint at a shift that will move the county closer to state coronavirus guidelines: critics have scolded for months at county leaders and her health officer, Dr. Sara Cody, for implementing stricter rules than other counties.
“As vaccinations reach the wider community, including more than half of people over 65, we are making significant progress in protecting our most vulnerable members of the community,” Cody said in a statement. “As things improve, it is still important that everyone continues to implement basic prevention measures: covering face, social distancing and doing as much outdoor activities as possible.”
New county guidelines for outdoor gatherings require a person to wear a face cover only when within three feet of a person outside their household. In addition, people can now sing at outdoor gatherings without a face covering, as long as they stay six feet away from others.
On Friday, a district statement to this news organization added that officials “have determined that the benefits of expanding permitted outdoor activities, where the risk of transmission is much lower, outweighs the risks.”
Most youth sports are also allowed to resume, with the county repealing its rules in favor of state guidelines issued late last week, allowing high contact outdoor sports to be played in any county with a number of cases per capita below 14 per 100,000 Residents. Santa Clara County announced on Monday that it would follow the new state rules.
With 5,525 new cases reported Thursday, according to data collected by this news organization, the California average for the past week fell to its lowest point since the first week of November, while the number of Californians hospitalized with COVID -19 fell below 6000 for the first time. time since before Thanksgiving.
Gavin Newsom said at a news conference in Fresno on Friday that the state now receives about 1.6 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines from the Biden government every week, and that 8.24 million injections have been given as of Friday. in California. .
He expects vaccination coverage to continue to increase with the anticipated approval of a Johnson & Johnson vaccine that represents new flexibility in vaccinations, as it consists of only one injection – current vaccines require two doses three and four weeks apart – and that includes no special cooling required.
Still, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, continued diligently in the face of the rising number of national cases over the past three days, making her wary that gains could slow in places like California . as restrictions are relaxed and new, more contagious virus variants continue to spread.
“We may be done with the virus,” Walensky said at a White House press conference Friday, “but it’s clear the virus isn’t done with us yet.”
Staff writers Evan Webeck, Laurence Miedema and The Associated Press contributed to this report.