San Mateo County Moved into Orange Tier

More businesses and activities allowed to expand operations

The state of California today announced the easing of certain restrictions on businesses, indoor and outdoor gatherings and other activities in San Mateo County. The changes take effect at 12:01 on Wednesday morning.

With the risk from coronavirus now officially declared “moderate,” the county moves into the less-restrictive orange Tier 3 in the state’s four-tier, color-coded plan for reducing COVID-19 with criteria for loosening and tightening restrictions on activities.

The move allows indoor family entertainment centers, bars and breweries not serving food, indoor climbing walls and certain other businesses and activities to open with capacity restrictions. Dine-in restaurants, movie theaters, places of worship and additional businesses can boost their indoor capacities as well.

To move forward, San Mateo County met key pandemic measures: rates of new COVID-19 cases continued to fall, as did the rates of tests returning positive overall and in disadvantaged areas.

The county met the orange Tier 3 status with a test positivity rate of 1.6 percent per 100,000 population, an adjusted case rate of 3.0 percent per 100,000 population and a health equity test positivity rate of 3.7 percent per 100,000 population.

San Mateo County’s health order requiring face coverings, social distancing, and limited gatherings remains in effect. Business must follow state industry guidance.

Changes to What Can Open

Effective immediately the following new activities/business operations are allowed:

Shopping malls: Can open indoors with modifications
Places of worship: Can open indoors at 50% capacity or 200 people, whichever is fewer
Dine-in restaurants: Can open indoors at 50% capacity or 200 people, whichever is fewer
Offices (non-essential businesses): Can open indoors with modifications
Bars/Breweries (where no meal provided): Can open outdoors only with modifications
Movie theaters: Can open indoors at 50% capacity or 200 people, whichever is fewer
Gyms & fitness centers, including indoor pools: Can open indoors with modifications and at 25% capacity
Family entertainment centers: Can open indoors with restrictions and capacity must be limited to 25%
Hotels, lodging and short-term lodging rentals: can open with modifications
Museums: Can open indoors with modifications and at 50% capacity
Schools: May reopen fully for in-person instruction. However, local school officials will decide whether and when that will occur

You can easily search for an extensive list of what’s open in San Mateo County at any given time on the State’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy web page.

All businesses must follow the State’s industry guidance for their sector. All businesses, including those with modified operations, must also continue to adhere to San Mateo County’s Health Order requiring social distancing and face covering and the safety measures outlined in the appendix.

If you wish to report a businesses that is not complying with COVID regulations, Please go to the County's Health Order Violation Reporting portal.

COVID Testing - Key to Our Progress

Local health officials credit in part the increased number of people who voluntarily got tested for COVID-19 for our progress. The County recently announced the ability to test up to 7,500 individuals each week – including children ages 5 and over at no-cost to participants. The County’s capacity supplements the testing provided by the private health care sector.

Widespread testing plays a key role in the state’s criteria for loosening or tightening restrictions on certain activities and the economy. The County’s stated goals are to exceed the state median for testing, ensure equitable access to testing and invest in strategic community testing. To get tested for COVID-19, call your health care provider or visit smcgov.org/testing.

COVID-19 Testing at San Mateo County Event Center

(1346 Saratoga Drive, San Mateo)

Project Baseline: Tuesday-Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Ages 18 and older
Curative: Monday-Friday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Ages 5 and older

Color-coded Tiered Ranking System

Based on COVID-19 case count and test positivity rate, the State implemented four color-coded tiers representing levels of restrictive/less-restrictive guidelines for counties:

Purple Tier 1 (widespread) – most non-essential indoor businesses remain closed
Red Tier 2 (substantial) – some non-essential indoor businesses operations are closed
Orange Tier 3 (moderate) – some business operations are open with modifications
Yellow Tier 4 (minimal) – most business operations are open with modifications

Local county health officials may choose to be more restrictive than this framework. This framework also notes signals of concern, including impacted healthcare capacity that may lead toward state intervention. The California Department of Public Health is monitoring data (such as case count and positivity rate) and health equity measures (such as access to testing and contact tracing) to evaluate a county’s progress.

Learn more about the tiers from the California Department of Public Health.

Find City of San Mateo specific updates at www.cityofsanmateo.org/coronavirus

Together we can help San Mateo County move further into reopening.
Remember to wear face coverings when in public, wash your hands frequently, maintain at least six feet of distance when in public, and limit mixing with people outside of your household.