Santa Clara County Sets New Guidelines For Return To Office

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — Santa Clara County will move into the least restrictive, yellow tier in the state’s COVID-19 blueprint on Wednesday and relax requirements for businesses regarding teleworking.

The move to the yellow tier clears the way for bars to open indoors and for gyms, movie theaters, conferences and other businesses to increase their indoor capacity.

In a news briefing Tuesday, Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said she was rescinding many of the local orders in place and replacing them with a limited local health order focusing on businesses.

Businesses will no longer be required to maximize teleworking among employees and instead be asked to determine the vaccination status of their workers, implement safety rules for those who are unvaccinated and report positive COVID-19 cases to the county. Businesses will also no longer be required to submit social distancing protocols.

County counsel James Williams said that the new order will mostly affect businesses with traditional office settings. While Williams said that businesses may have other reasons to continue remote work, he added that “there is no COVID-related reason for folks to continue maximizing remote work.” The decision will be up to individual businesses.

County officials cited progress in vaccinating residents and low COVID-19 case rates for the decision. Over 75 percent of residents ages 16 and up have been vaccinated and the county’s 0.5 percent positivity rate is the lowest that it has recorded since the pandemic began. Cody, who for much of the pandemic has expressed caution and implemented strict health orders, projected a sense of victory on Tuesday over the threat of variants.

“For the first time in a long time I feel optimistic,” Cody said. “For a while, it seemed uncertain to me whether the vaccines or the variants would win. I think that team vaccine is in the lead, holding the lead and will win.”

Cody said the high vaccination rates in the county have “made all the difference in the world.”

Following the state and CDC guidance that vaccinated people don’t need to wear a mask outdoors, Cody and other county officials, including Williams and County Supervisors Susan Ellenberg and Otto Lee, spoke at the news briefing without a mask. Masks are still required indoors in California until June 15, when the state expects to fully reopen its economy.

“I will admit to you, it is difficult after wearing this mask for so long to feel comfortable, despite the fact that I'm vaccinated,” Cody said. “And it’s going to take time for many of us to make that change.”