SAN JOSE – After months of some of the toughest COVID-19 shutdown rules in the state, Santa Clara County is abandoning its own approach and moving closer to California’s mainstream due to declining virus outbreaks and increasing vaccinations.
Public health officials said they were easing restrictions on outdoor activities – such as youth sports, as previously announced – from Friday. And when the province goes into the red level of the state for reopening, which is expected to take place on Wednesday, they will be able to bring back indoor eateries and a few events, with capacity and distance limits.
The expected restart of indoor eateries – with a capacity of 25 percent – was welcome news for Kostas Perakis, who runs the family Tasso’s Restaurant and Bar on the Southwest Expressway in San Jose.
‘We’re going to open up and (back) to normal life. I love it, “Perakis said on Friday.
Like many restaurateurs, Perakis tried to stay afloat with takeaways and a dining room outside, but said the cost of tents, heaters and reduced customer traffic still means business has dropped to 70%. He added that there is no way to exaggerate the difference that indoor meals make for him.
“People like safety and do not like being outside in the cold,” he said.
The changes were announced amid a larger number of vaccinations, as well as declining cases and hospitalizations. It also points to a shift with the province joining closer to the guidelines for the coronavirus in the state: critics have been mocking provincial leaders and its health official for months. Sara Cody, for implementing stricter rules than other provinces.
“With vaccinations now gaining ground in the community, including more than half of those aged 65 and over, 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 for everyone to continue with the basic preventative measures: face covering, social distance and doing as much outdoors as possible.”
New provincial guidelines for outdoor events require a person to wear a face mask if he is within six feet of a person outside their household. In addition, people can now sing at outdoor gatherings without covering their face, as long as they stay six feet away from others.
A rural statement to this news organization added on Friday that officials’ state that the benefits of expanding permissible extracurricular activities, where the risk of transmission is much lower, outweigh the risks. ‘
Most youth sports are also allowed to resume as the country lifts its rules in favor of state guidance issued late last week, which allows high-contact outdoor sports to be played in any country with a per capita case of less than 14 per 100,000. residents. Santa Clara County announced Monday that it will follow the new state rules.
According to data compiled by this news organization, 5,525 new cases were reported on Thursday. According to California, the average week has dropped to its lowest point since the first week of November in the past week, while the number of California residents hospitalized with COVID-19 fell below 6,000 for the first time. time since before Thanksgiving.
Gavin Newsom’s government told a news conference in Fresno on Friday that the state now receives about 1.6 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines from the Biden administration each week, and that 8.24 million shots were fired in California from Friday is. .
He expects vaccination rates to increase with the expected approval of a Johnson and Johnson vaccine that represents new flexibility in vaccinations, as it consists of only one shot – the current vaccinations require two doses that are between three and four weeks apart. is – and does not require special cooling.
Yet dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, continued to pursue the zeal in light of the growing national numbers over the past three days, which made her wary that profits could take off in places like California. as restrictions are eased and new, more contagious virus variants spread.
“We may be done with the virus,” Walensky said in a White House press release Friday, “but the virus is clearly not done with us.”
Staff writers Evan Webeck, Laurence Miedema and The Associated Press contributed to this report.