Marine County Public Health Officer Matt Willis announced Friday that they are moving together with two other area counties to tighten restrictions because of the local increase in COVID-19 infections.
“We are deciding to take red-level policies by default as the number of our cases is increasing dramatically,” Willis said. “There are speculations that we may even move to the purple level before the end of the month.”
Willis effectively said Tuesday that he is directing the closure of all bars and breweries and indoor bridges. Restaurant rentals, movie theater exemptions and indoor service in the food court must be suspended. San Francisco banned indoor dining earlier this week.
“As Covid-1 rates increase, home environments where facial covering is not used, such as rest-like rents, become less secure because they are more likely to be sharing space with a potential person,” Willis said in a statement. Willis said in a statement. “This business environment is not limited enough but also applies to holiday gatherings and travel.”
The order has also affected many other marine businesses. Retail stores and malls must reduce their capacity to 50%. Capacity in museums and places of worship must be reduced by 25%. Gym and fitness centers must reduce capacity by up to 10%.
Some places – wineries, family entertainment centers and card rooms – are only allowed to operate outside.
The state of California adopted a color-coded tire system to determine how counties would allow their businesses and schools to reopen after a summer shutdown to stem the epidemic. “Tier 1,” the most restricted layer, is purple; “Tier 2” is red; “Level 3” is orange; And “Level 4,” the least restricted category, is yellow.
Started in Marine Tier 1 last month. She moved to Tier 2 in mid-September and graduated to Level 3 in late October. To get to level 3, the county must have a daily case rate rate of 9 or less; 4.9% test positive or lower; And health equity metric .2.5% or less.
Under state regulations, counties must maintain the minimum number they want to graduate for two consecutive weeks before proceeding. By the same token, if a county’s infection exceeds the minimum standards of the level every two weeks, it will be reduced. If the county goes lower, it must stay there for at least three weeks.
“Instead of waiting for the state to impose these sanctions,” Willis said. “We want to go against this and stop it from happening.”
Marin’s COVID-19 case rate has almost doubled in the last 10 days. On Thursday, 41 new infections and six hospitalizations were reported in Marine County due to the virus.
Marie County Superintendent of Schools Mary Jane Burke said the public health order would not have an immediate impact on local schools. Many Marine schools were able to obtain a state waiver even when Marine was in Tier 1, all schools in Class 2 counties are allowed to open for class-based instruction.
Burke said local teachers will consult with public health officials next week to determine if they should return to virtual education for a short time following the holiday.
“We’ll look at the data carefully,” Burke said.
The Marine’s business community reacted with new disappointments.
“This is not news we didn’t want to hear from the county,” said Coy Smith, CEO of the Novato Chamber of Commerce. “It will once again place an additional financial burden on local businesses and the economy as a whole. We were concerned about climate change and how it would affect outdoor dining and other activities. “
Joan Webster, CEO of the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, said: “This is disastrous news for the business community, especially for restaurant restaurants. They have worked hard and now the rainy season is upon us, making the use of outdoor spaces almost impossible.
“That’s why we residents need to buy you Marines this holiday season; To make a conscious effort to spend less on Amazon and spend more on our local businesses, ”Webster said. “Our support is vital to their survival.”
Jim Welte, director of membership and community engagement at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce for Commerce, said the scaling back of 50% to 25% of indoor restaurant service would be systematic.
“But it is very unfortunate to completely eliminate indoor dining as an option, especially in bad weather today,” Welte said. “We’d love to hear some extra clarity around what we’re running this latest spike and what is being done to take into account its causes, apart from affecting the restaurant restaurants it has already suffered.”
Willis told county supervisors on Tuesday that recent cases have seen an increase in cases due to indoor gatherings. He said for the first time since the epidemic began most new infections were seen in white residents rather than Latinos, many of whom were forced to work through shutdowns to feed their families and share crowded living space.
