Sonoma County expected to keep tightest business restrictions in place for another month or more

Hours after Gov. Gavin Newsom Friday unveiled a new four-part COVID-19 business reopening plan, Sonoma County’s top public health official said the county probably will remain under the tightest restrictions already in place since mid-July for at least another month.

The high degree of coronavirus transmission and potential for more new infections resulting from wildfire evacuations are the key reasons it’s unlikely the county will soon begin to reopen more businesses and public activities, said county Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase said.

“My sense is, especially with the fire evacuations and the fact that our cases are high, I don’t see us coming to the next tier for at least a month or longer,” said Mase, who was referring to keeping the virus in check enough to make progress and ease some limitations.

That means across Sonoma County, restaurants, wineries and places of worship, among other venues, will continue to be limited to outdoor service, while bars, breweries and distilleries where no meals are served will remain closed, according the the state’s new reopening plan.

Based on the total requirements of the governor’s new directive, it’s possible but unlikely in 2 or 3 months the county will be able to progress to a point of only having minimal business restrictions. And “minimal” under these rules would allow restaurants and wineries only to resume indoor service at half capacity.

The new plan, which replaces the state’s watchlist for counties struggling most to control spread of the virus, was announced by Newsom during a press briefing.

The governor’s reopening plan uses two key coronavirus metrics — daily cases per 100,000 people and testing positivity percentage — to determine whether counties have widespread, substantial, moderate or minimal virus transmission. Those four levels of spread of the infectious disease each is matched with a different color.

According to a new state COVID-19 website, Sonoma County, which is designated in the widespread, or worst group, with a daily rate of 15.9 confirmed virus cases per 100,000 residents and a testing positivity rate (the share of virus tests that are positive) of 6.5%. Most counties in the group have daily case rates of greater than 7 per 100,000 residents and testing positivity rates of greater than 8%.

To get into the next less-restrictive group denoting substantial transmission, the county would have to reduce its COVID-19 circulation rate to between 4 and 7 daily cases per 100,000 people and its testing positivity to between 5% and 8%.

During a press briefing Friday, Mase said the county was in “good company” with 38 counties across the state still dealing with widespread virus transmission. Some 87% of California’s residents live in one of the 38 counties, state officials said Friday.

This new process includes a mandatory three-week period that counties must remain in each of the four categories once they land there. Also, in order to move to the next, less-restrictive level, counties must meet that category’s metrics for two consecutive weeks. Counties were assigned to one of the four categories of virus transmission on Friday and the status becomes effective Monday.

Newsom said the new business reopening plan is “slow” and methodical in that restrictions on counties are only gradually eased as opposed to being completely removed — the strategy the state had deployed in late spring and early summer that failed. The governor made clear there’s no returning to pre-pandemic business conditions as long as the virus is still active.

For example, being in the large group of counties with widespread transmission, restaurants are allowed only to continue outdoor dining. Once improved one level to substantial transmission, restaurants can resume indoor dining with a maximum capacity of 25%, or 100 people, whichever is fewer diners.

Mase said the county has been plagued with high levels of virus transmission for many weeks and so residents should not expect to see the county move quickly through the state’s new multi-tier process for reopening higher risk business activities. The recent wildfires could cause another setback for the area by causing even more new infections, she warned.

“If we have more cases because people were evacuated and went to friends’ and neighbors’ homes, well we won’t see the result of that for the next three weeks,” Mase said.

Meanwhile, late Thursday, county health officials reported three new COVID-19-related deaths. All three victims were residents of senior care homes and had underlying health conditions.

One was a female between 55 and 64 who lived in a residential care facility and died Wednesday. Another was a female resident of a skilled nursing home who was over 64 and also died Wednesday. The third was a male resident of a skilled nursing home, also over 64, who died last Friday.

The three fatalities bring to 78 the number of people who have died from complications of the coronavirus here since the pandemic started in March. Of these, 63 have been residents of senior care homes.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.