Red Tier return: SB County businesses prepare for potential indoor reopening

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Santa Barbara County is on track to return to the less-restrictive Red Tier of the state's reopening plan next Wednesday.

The door to further reopening opened Friday when California reached 2 million inoculations in designated zip codes around the state where communities have been hit hardest by COVID-19.

That milestone updated the state's reopening guidance, raising the threshold to reach the Red Tier to 10 weekly COVID-19 cases per 100,000.

Santa Barbara County is set to officially meet that metric when updated numbers come out this upcoming Tuesday. The switch to the Red Tier would then go into effect on Wednesday.

In the Red Tier, restaurants can again offer indoor dining at 25 percent capacity or less than 100 people, whichever is fewer.

Indoor movie theaters can also reopen at 25 percent, while indoor gyms can reopen at 10 percent.

Indoor museums and aquariums could reopen as well at limited capacity. Middle and high schools would be cleared for in-person learning in the Red Tier.

Businesses are already preparing for a limited indoor return. Harry's Plaza Cafe in Santa Barbara will once again be able to fill 25 percent of its large indoor space once the county officially moves into the Red Tier.

“I mean, that’s a 50-60 people easily that we’d be able to accommodate inside in a warm environment versus sitting outside in the cold,” general manager Kevin Hebert said.

Santa Barbara County first moved into the Red Tier in the fall before the winter's frightening COVID surge forced restrictions to return.

There is hope that businesses will not have to endure another shutdown this time.

“As long as the vaccination is becoming more prevalent for the public to get, I think that is the key for us to keep going forward and not going back,” Hebert said.

Santa Barbara County Public Health Direct Van Do-Reynoso shares some of that optimism, saying Friday she "strongly" believes the County can avoid falling back into the most restrictive Purple Tier ever again, if people continue to diligently follow health guidelines.

“I think that we have learned a lot [last fall] with regards to how quickly we can escalate in our case rates due to lack of adherence,” Do-Reynoso said. “We need to adhere to precautions until we reach that high level of vaccination in our community.”