California’s New Blueprint For Reopening Businesses
On Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the roll out a new blueprint for reopening businesses throughout the state.
California’s New Color-Coded, Four-Tiered System
Beginning today, this new blueprint is county-based and will rely on COVID-19 case counts and the percentage of positive tests to determine if a county can move into the next colored tier or not. This new blueprint replaces the state’s county watch list that initially determined if and when a county could re-open.
According to Newsom, this new blueprint will be “simple”, “uniform”, and “slow”.
The color-coded system is broken into four tiers:
Purple: Widespread
- Most non-essential indoor business operations are closed
- The county is reporting more than 7 daily per cases per 100,000
- More than 8% of tests are positive
Red: Substantial
- Some non-essential indoor business operations are closed
- The county is reporting between 4 to 7 daily positive cases per 100,000
- Between 5% – 8% of tests are positive
Orange: Moderate
- Some business operations are open with modifications
- The county is reporting between 1 and 3.9 daily positive cases per 100,000
- Between 2% and 4.9% of tests are positive
Yellow: Minimal
- Most business operations are open with modifications
- The county is reporting less than 1 daily positive case per 100,000
- Less than 2% of tests are positive
All counties must remain within their current tier for at least three weeks. In order to move into the next tier, they must meet that tier’s criteria and maintain that criteria for a consecutive two weeks.
Sacramento County continues to fall within the Purple: Widespread tier with the majority of non-essential indoors businesses required to remain closed. The exceptions to this rule are hair salons, malls, and restaurants.
Hair Salons Allowed to Reopen for Indoor Operations
Regardless of which tier your county is in, hair salons are now allowed to reopen for indoor operations with modifications. Although allowed by the state to reopen, Newsom has placed the final decision with each county to determine whether they are prepared for this industry to reopen.
Find the Status of Activities in Your County
The state also rolled out a new feature on their website that can be used to determine which industries within your county are open and with what modifications. You can use the drop-down feature to select your county and then choose from a long list of industries such as gyms, dance studios, schools, museums, theaters, and much more. You can access this resource on the state’s website here.
