State Limits Activities, Curtails Indoor Dining, as
COVID-19 Cases Rise in San Mateo County

Effective Tuesday, Nov. 17, San Mateo County falls back to the more restrictive red Tier 2 on the state’s COVID-19 reopening plan. Many businesses must again reduce capacity and some modifications have been made to the tiers.

Following an increase in coronavirus cases, the state of California moved San Mateo County back into the red Tier 2 where risk is considered "substantial." The setback affects a wide sector of businesses and adds to the urgency to follow health guidelines and not mix households indoors. 

Changes to What Can Open 

• Restaurants indoors (max 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer)
• All retail indoors (max 50% capacity)
• Shopping centers, swap meets indoors (max 50% capacity, closed common areas)
• Personal care services – hair and nail salons, barbershops (open with modifications)
• Museums, zoos and aquariums (max 25% capacity)
• Places of worship (max 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer)
• Movie theaters indoors (max 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer)
• Gyms and fitness centers indoors (max 10% capacity)
• Bars, breweries and distilleries where no meals are served must closed
• And more

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 web page.

If you wish to report a businesses that is not complying with COVID regulations, please visit the County's COVID-19 business compliance task force web page.

No-Cost COVID-19 Testing

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

Business Protections

To help small businesses through the pandemic, the City passed an emergency ordinance banning commercial evictions for non-payment of rent between the months of April 2020-September 2020. 

It temporarily prohibited landlords from evicting nonprofit and small business tenants when:

• The tenant is unable to pay their rent because they have been impacted by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; or

• The landlord seeks to terminate the tenancy for “no fault” causes, unless the eviction is necessary to preserve the health and safety of tenants, neighbors, or the landlord.

Repayment period
Starting the month when the City’s State of Emergency is lifted, tenants will have a 12-month period to pay rent arrears culminated between April – September 2020. On the seventh month of the 12-month repayment period, tenants must start paying a minimum of 50% percent of the unpaid balance. Landlords are not allowed to charge late fees or surcharges to the outstanding balance.

Visit our FAQ page for more information. 

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