VENTURA — (On Nov. 16), the State of California announced new COVID-19 Tier assignments for counties. Due to increasing case rates, Ventura County and 40 other counties in the State will move back to the more restrictive Tier 1 Purple. Businesses that are impacted by this are asked to make their operational modifications by midnight November 17, 2020.
“Community members have taken action. Our average number of tests per day per 100,000 population was in the 200s and has increased to the 400s this past week. This hard work from the community allowed for the State to provide the County with an adjustment factor downward. However, because our case rate was at 12 the week ending November 7th, even with the large adjustment factor, we were not able to get under the required metric of 7 or less,” said Mike Powers, County Executive Officer. “Testing is still very important for future case rate adjustments, but also for the Public Health team’s timely and effective contact investigation and tracing efforts. We are encouraging all community members to get tested. Testing is available 7 days a week at sites throughout our County.”
In alignment with Purple Tier 1, the following sectors are permitted for OUTDOOR operations only until further notice. These sectors must still maintain mitigation measures (social distancing, face covering, and sanitization):
- Cardrooms, satellite wagering
- Family Entertainment Centers (e.g. bowling alleys, miniature golf, batting cages, kart racing, and arcades)
- Gyms and Fitness Centers
- Movie theaters
- Museums, zoos, aquariums
- Places of worship
- Playgrounds and recreational facilities
- Restaurants
- Wineries
Bars, pubs, brewpubs and breweries may operate outdoors if they are offering sit-down, outdoor meals. Outdoor operations may be conducted under a tent, canopy, or other shelter if no more than one side is closed.
In alignment with Purple Tier 1, the following sectors are open for INDOOR operations. These sectors must still maintain mitigation measures (social distancing, face covering, and sanitization) and specific modifications in parenthesis below:
- All retail ?(maximum 25% capacity)
- Critical infrastructure
- Hair salons and barbershops
- Libraries (maximum 25% capacity)
- Nail salons and electrolysis operations
- Personal care services (e.g. body waxing, estheticians, tattoo, massage)
- Professional sports (without live audiences)
- Shopping centers (e.g. malls, destination centers, swap meets, excluding food courts and common areas) (maximum 25% capacity)
?Schools
In alignment with California Department of Health requirements, schools (all grade levels) that have reopened for in-person instruction, either under a waiver or while Ventura County was in Red Tier 2, are permitted to continue to conduct in-person instruction. Schools that have not reopened must wait until they are eligible again, either by acquiring a waiver from Ventura County Public Health (grades TK-6 only) or by waiting until Ventura County returns to Red Tier 2 for at least two weeks.
If a school was implementing a phased re-opening (e.g., only opened grades K-2 for in-person instruction with set plans to phase in grades 3-6) while Ventura County was in Red Tier 2, the school site may continue their phased re-opening. This is only applicable to individual school sites. If a district has a phased reopening of their schools, the schools in that district that did not open for in person instruction may not reopen until Ventura County has returned to Red Tier 2 for two weeks.
Schools that wish to begin providing in-person instruction for select students in grades 7-12 must follow the CDPH Cohort Guidance; this guidance is not meant to bring all students back for in-person instruction, but those that meet the Cohort Guidance criteria.
Schools conducting in-person instruction must maintain mitigation measures, including social distancing, face coverings, and sanitization, in compliance with schools guidance from CDPH and Ventura County Public Health. Waiver information can be found at www.venturacountyrecovers.org/school-information/.
Tier Advancement
Counties are required to remain in an assigned tier for a minimum of three weeks and must meet the criteria for the next tier for two consecutive weeks before being able to advance to the next tier.
“To advance forward into the Red Tier 2, Ventura County needs to have lower daily case rates. The only way to do that is to do what we know works,” said Ventura County Health Officer Dr. Robert Levin. “We all have a part in this, and we must be committed to social distancing measures in public spaces (6ft apart, wear face coverings, wash hands, etc.) and to avoid gathering with non-household members. Also, it helps everyone and the County overall to get tested whenever you have any symptom of illness that does not have another explanation, or you think you may have been exposed to COVID.”
To learn more about the State’s Tier system and specific allowable activities for Ventura County, visit the State of California’s COVID-19 Blueprint for a Safer Economy website.