Santa Clara County might move to the orange tier Wednesday as coronavirus numbers continue to decline, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo announced during a Thursday news conference.
“We’re seeing improvements with infection rates and [COVID-19] positivity rates and we expect that . . . we will be in the orange tier next week,” Liccardo said during the conference.
There have been six new deaths and 102 new COVID-19 cases reported to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department in the last week.
Under the orange tier, Liccardo said restaurants can open at 50% capacity and places of worship can also open at half capacity. Breweries and amusement parks can open at 25% capacity and movie theaters can open at 30%.
“Now just because you can do [outside activities] doesn’t mean it’s a great idea,” Liccardo said. “If you haven’t been vaccinated or if you have particular vulnerabilities, please continue to stay home.”
San Jose State graduate student Jacob Clark said he thinks city leaders are “jumping the gun.”
“Last year we had a full-on lockdown with comparatively few people sick,” Clark said in a text message. “Now, even with hundreds of thousands of people sick and getting sick, we are looking at reopening.”
Santa Clara County moved from the purple tier, or widespread infection rates, to the red tier, or substantial infection rates, on March 2.
Counties must remain in a tier for a minimum of three weeks before being allowed to advance into a less restrictive tier and it can only move forward one tier at a time, even if it qualifies to advance further, according to the Santa Clara County Blueprint for a Safer Economy webpage.
Public health officials warn of an increasing prevalence of COVID-19 variants including those first identified in South Africa and the United Kingdom in Santa Clara County and the Bay Area, according to a Saturday Santa Clara County Public Health Department news release.
There have been four confirmed cases of the variant first identified in South Africa statewide, one of which was detected in Santa Clara County in early February and another on March 17.
“Considering the national trends, we have been operating under the assumption that these variants were circulating at some level in our communities,” stated Dr. Sara Cody, health officer and director of public health for Santa Clara County, in the news release. “This latest case confirms that we do have community transmission, and reminds us to not let down our guard in the middle of this pandemic.”
Clark said students should approach the county’s gradual reopening with hesitancy, especially if they haven’t been vaccinated.
“Personally, I’ll wait on enjoying going outside and doing all the things I used to until my girlfriend and I are vaccinated,” Clark said.