Riverside and San Bernardino Counties have moved to the orange tier of California’s guidelines for reopening.
Effective Wednesday, more patrons may be indoors at businesses and places of worship, and bars will reopen – outdoors only – for the first time since June of last year, according to a statement.
Specifically, retail businesses may increase their capacity to 100 percent indoors, and places of worship, movie theaters, restaurants, as well as museums, zoos and aquariums may increase indoor capacity to 50 percent with modifications
Also, gyms, wineries, breweries and distilleries may increase their indoor capacity to 25 percent indoors with modifications. Starting April 15, indoor meetings, receptions and conferences will be allowed up to 150 attendees if all guests are tested or fully vaccinated.
“We continue to make real progress with combating COVID-19 and the impacts on our businesses and communities,” said Riverside County Board Chair Karen Spiegel in the statement. “Cases have been steadily declining, vaccine supply is improved, and today the state announced ending the tier system June 15.
“These are extremely positive signs that Riverside County continues to move forward and recover.”
San Bernardino County has also shown improvement.
“We had 38 new cases of COVID-19 on April 2, compared to 5,315 cases on January 4,” San Bernardino County Board Chairman Curt Hagman said in a statement. “This is a testament to diligence of residents who have been careful to wear face coverings, maintain physical distancing, and follow the other guidelines we’ve been promoting for the past year.”