Central Coast businesses may have to figure out how to operate in the yellow tier and then a week later, navigate the plan to reopen California.
Both San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties currently meet yellow tier criteria, but a county must hit those metrics for two straight weeks before officially moving to the next tier.
Chris Cesar, the head server at Mikado Sushi, said, “Actually, there is no difference at all, because this place is really busy.”
Some locals in the food industry say they’ve stayed busy during the pandemic. But with the change in tiers, and then getting rid of tiers altogether, they have to juggle returning to normal life.
“I think it will definitely make it better, more people, bigger parties. Before it was downsizing – smaller parties, smaller weddings, smaller everything. Now everyone’s a bit more comfortable,” said Casey Davis, Arroyo Grande Bakery cake decorator.
Capacity limits change depending on the tier. For both the orange and yellow tier, restaurant indoor capacity is 50 percent or fewer than 200 people in the orange tier. But they may be in the yellow tier for just a week.
“Businesses I think would be happy to take even one week of additional capacity, which comes with moving to a less restrictive tier,” said Dr. Penny Borenstein, San Luis Obispo County Public Health Officer.
Come June `15, Governor Gavin Newsom expects to reopen California. There won’t be capacity limits except for mega-events.
“I think it’s going to be busy, but one of my real concerns is that we don’t have enough staff," Cesar said.
More people will be able to dine in and mingle.
“People still have birthdays, people still have anniversaries and thank goodness we weren’t ripped from that. I’m glad people – we’re a little bit sense of normalcy for a lot people,” Davis said.
For mask-wearing when the state reopens, the governor says to follow the recommendations from the California Department of Public Health and the CDC.
