Governor Says California Can Fully Reopen June 15; San Diego Enters 'Orange' Tier

San Diego CA

06 April, 2021

4:38 PM

Description

By Chris Jennewein, Times of San Diego April 6, 2021 Marking a major step in a return to normalcy, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that all COVID-19 restrictions on businesses, gatherings and recreational activities will be lifted June 15, although a statewide mask mandate will remain in place. "We are seeing bright light at the end of the tunnel," said Newsom at a press conference outside of a vaccination site in San Francisco. The governor also announced that the state had reached 4 million vaccinations among low-income communities, allowing a number of counites, including San Diego, to move from the red to orange tier. The June 15 reopening assumes continued availability of vaccines and no spikes in COVID-19 hospitalizations. On that date the state will do away with its Blueprint for a Safer Economy, the four-tier, color-coded system that has guided economic reopening through a series of restrictions and capacity limits. California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said the June 15 date was chosen for being two months after COVID-19 vaccines are made available to all Californians aged 16 and over. And the decision to lift all the blueprint requirements comes in response to rising vaccination numbers and continued decreases in all key pandemic-tracking metrics, such as case numbers, positivity rates and hospitalizations. "With all of that, we are at the stage where we're ready to consider the next aspect of our pandemic response," Ghaly said. "The road to this moment hasn't been easy. We have come together as Californians to save thousands of lives." Ghaly said scrapping the blueprint — which will be done statewide, regardless of where individual counties may be ranked at the time in the tier system — "really means that every day activities will be allowed, and businesses can open with common-sense risk-reduction measures." "This means the end to our color-coded tiers," he said. "You can go to movies, to the beach and see family." Ghaly stressed, however, that a statewide mask mandate will remain in place "to prevent illness and promote health." The announcement comes on a day the state crossed the 20 million threshold for the number of vaccinations administered. The state also reached the 4 million mark of vaccinations in lower-income communities that have been hard hit by the pandemic. Reaching that 4 million threshold will allow multiple counties, including San Diego and Riverside, to immediately advance to the less- restrictive orange tier of the state's economic blueprint. Times of San Diego is an independent online news site covering the San Diego metropolitan area. Our journalists report on politics, crime, business, sports, education, arts, the military and everyday life in San Diego. No subscription is required, and you can sign up for a free daily newsletter with a summary of the latest news.