Local businesses with an EOC-certified plan can reopen as soon as today with safety modifications in place

The Humboldt County Emergency Operations Center is incorporating the State’s new four-tier business reopening framework into the Reopening Plan process. Local businesses with an EOC-certified plan can reopen as soon as today with safety modifications in place.



Under the “Blueprint for a Safer Economy,” each county is assigned to one of four tiers based on two criteria: seven-day COVID-19 case rate (with a seven-day lag) and seven-day test positivity rate. Humboldt County is currently in Moderate Tier 3 or Orange with a 1.4 percent positivity rate and 3.6 cases per 100,000 residents. Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Teresa Frankovich said the State replaced the County Monitoring List with a more flexible system so businesses and organizations can better understand what safety measures are required as virus conditions change.

“Local businesses that have gone through the Reopening Plan process have done a good job overall of putting measures in place to help keep employees, customers and our entire community as safe as possible,” she said. “This new framework has the flexibility to loosen and tighten safety requirements for businesses based on how the virus is spreading in our community, rather than simply opening and closing them.”

Most sectors that were closed by the Governor in July can reopen modified indoor services with safety measures in place, though the State is requiring other sectors to implement additional restrictions, such as limits on total capacity. For example, restaurants may resume dine-in services at 50 percent capacity. Gyms and fitness centers can maintain current indoor services but are limited to 25 percent capacity.

Dr. Frankovich urged a cautious approach to reopening as some sectors, including Family Entertainment Centers and Wineries may be required to transition to outdoor services or fully close some operations if the State moves Humboldt County into a higher tier. At present, bars are only allowed to reopen for outdoor service and would close with movement into the next tier.

“We’re not far from meeting the State’s conditions for the next, more restrictive tier,” she said. “That means that the choices we all make each day—like wearing a facial covering, avoiding gatherings and physical distancing are critically important in keeping our community healthy and our businesses open.”