Restaurants, movie theaters plan to reopen indoors as SB County moves to red tier

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - With improving coronavirus numbers over the past two weeks, Santa Barbara County moved into the red tier of California's COVID-19 reopening plan on Tuesday. Several businesses began preparing to reopen indoors.

A new County Public Health Officer Order incorporating the changes is set to take effect Wednesday morning.

The red tier, classified as "substantial" COVID-19 transmission, means restaurants can allow indoor dining up to 25 percent of capacity or 100 diners, whichever is fewer.

The move is a boost for restaurants in the county who have been limited to only outdoor dining. Restaurants with large indoor spaces, like Santa Barbara Sunshine Café, especially benefit.

“We were kind of waiting for that because now we can expand the business,” said co-owner Manuel Plascencia.

At 25 percent indoor capacity, the café can now have an additional 20-30 people dining inside while maintaining its outdoor dining area in the parking lot.

“It actually makes a huge difference,” Plascencia said. “So now we’ve got the combination of inside and outdoors. It’s gonna be better. Especially now, the time’s gonna change. It’s gonna get colder and colder. So then we can get a little bit [of business] inside.”

Indoor movie theaters in the county can also reopen, with auditoriums at 25 percent capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer.

Metropolitan Theatres is opening two of its locations on Friday: Camino Real Cinemas in Goleta and Fiesta 5 Theatre in downtown Santa Barbara.

All indoor movie theaters in the county have been closed since March.

“I can’t wait to actually see a movie on the big screen,” said Kim Tucker, Metropolitan Theatres’ Vice President of Operations. “It’s been a while.”

Metro Theatres moviegoers will have a modified experience in the age of COVID-19. Most noticeably, masks are required at all times except when eating or drinking while seated.

In addition to capacity limits in auditoriums, every other row of seats will be closed. All seating is now reserved. When buying a ticket, three seats on either side of a group will be automatically blocked off to create distancing between other buyers.

After each movie, seats will be cleaned with a disinfecting fog and all armrests, chair backs and railings will be wiped down. Alternate exits in the auditoriums prevent traffic from flowing back into the lobby. Line areas will be spaced out as well.

An employee will scan tickets or phones behind protective glass.

“We want [moviegoers] to feel comfortable that we’ve put all these safety measures in place, for them to have a very good experience and a very safe experience,” Tucker said. “There are changes, but we feel they’re very positive changes and that we want everybody to come back to the movies.”

For more information about Metro Theatres' new safety measures, you can watch this video or visit their website.

Santa Barbara County's upgrade to the red tier comes after a lengthy stay in the purple tier, classified as "widespread" COVID-19 transmission.