San Mateo County Moves Into Red Tier, Loosening More Restrictions

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — San Mateo County moved into the red tier in the state’s COVID-19 blueprint, the state announced on Tuesday, lifting some restrictions on businesses and permitting more activities as coronavirus daily case rates continue to fall.

Beginning Wednesday, restaurants can open for indoor dining at 25% capacity, gyms can open at 10% capacity and retail and shopping centers can increase capacity to 50%.

San Mateo County’s case rate has fallen to 5.6% and health equity quartile positivity rate to 3.7%, which placed the county within the red tier. The county, along with much of the state, has been in the purple tier — the most restrictive tier — since late last year, when the winter surge of cases and hospitalizations began.

“This is great news for our small businesses and our entire community,” said David J. Canepa, San Mateo Board of Supervisors President, in a news release. “And this move is a direct result of all of us taking personal responsibility for our actions. If we wear our damn masks, keep our distance and follow common-sense health and safety protocols, we can get back to doing what we all love to do.”

Louise Rogers, chief of San Mateo County Health, said that the move is “something to applaud.”

“Reducing that disparity is going in the right direction,” Rogers said in a news release. “Our goal is to drive that disparity, affecting our most impacted communities, to zero.”