Confirmed by the chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, Nathan Fletcher, San Diego moved from the red tier to the orange tier on Wednesday, April 7.

The red tier means that there is a “substantial spread” with 4 to 7 new cases a day for every 100,000 residents. Different tiers set different levels of restrictions in the counties of California. For example, retail stores and malls are only allowed to open at 50% of their normal capacity. The introduction of the Covid vaccine is one of the factors that has made this transition into the orange tier possible since it helped adjust the daily case rate into 5.8 cases per 100,000.

Once a county is moved into the orange tier it will allow businesses that have already been open to operate at a greater capacity while also ending the 10 PM curfew set on food and drink businesses. Gyms will now be allowed to have a 25% capacity indoors and will be allowed to open indoor pools. Movie theaters, zoos, aquariums, museums and places of worship will all be allowed to have up to 50% capacity.  And as of April 26, the San Diego Unified School District has moved into tier 2 of reopening by allowing juniors and seniors on campus all four days of the hybrid schedule.  After about a year of online learning, many Hoover students have returned.

Even though things are turning around we are still held accountable for following the restrictions that are helping us prevent more cases. Governor Newsom also announced  on April 7 that California will be eliminating the COVID-19 tier system starting June 15 if case rates continue to drop, since the COVID-19 vaccine has become more available to California residents. The mask mandate implemented by Governor Newsom will stay in effect after June 15.