With the tier system gone, public health officials talk about what comes next

June 15 marked the end of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy, the color-coded reopening system that Santa Barbara County finally made its way through when it reached the yellow tier on June 8. Public health officials say the county is ready to reopen, but that the community shouldn’t let its guard down entirely: COVID-19 is still among us.

click to enlarge With the tier system gone, public health officials talk about what comes next
SCREENSHOT COURTESY OF BLUEPRINT FOR A SAFER ECONOMY
BYE BYE, BLUEPRINT : The state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening system ended Tuesday, just a week after Santa Barbara County made it into the yellow tier for the first time. The colors of each county in the map correspond with their tier designation—yellow, orange, and red.

Though Santa Barbara County was only in the yellow tier for a week before the state’s reopening system ended, Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso said reaching the least restrictive tier was emblematic of how far the county’s come.

“I think it’s symbolic that we are working well together toward decreasing disease transmission,” Do-Reynoso said. “It was a great moment to be finally assigned the yellow tier because of our lowering, decreasing case rates and testing positivity.”

Effective Tuesday, most restrictions set by the reopening system were lifted in California.

“We will join the state in going beyond the Blueprint,” Do-Reynoso said. “That means that June 15 marks the full reopening of businesses to normal operations. … There will not be a capacity restriction or a [requirement for] social distancing.”

However, masks will still be required in certain settings.

“Masks are not required for fully vaccinated individuals, except a few settings. They are: public transportation, indoors K through 12, child care and other youth settings, health care settings, congregate living centers including correctional facilities and detention centers and … homeless shelters,” Do-Reynoso said.

Masks will also be required for all unvaccinated people in indoor public settings. Businesses have three choices for mask policies going forward.

“They can use a self-attestation compliance method to determine compliance, they can implement a vaccine verification, or they can require that all patrons wear a mask,” Do-Reynoso said. “The flip side to that, though, is that no person will be prevented from wearing a mask as a condition of participation in an activity or entry.”

In other words, a person can’t be denied entry for choosing to wear a mask, even if a business or event doesn’t require them. 

“They cannot prevent you from participating just because you’re wearing a mask,” Do-Reynoso said. “The intent is to support people who are wearing masks.”

Do-Reynoso believes the county is ready to reopen: June 14 marked the first day since the start of the pandemic that Santa Barbara County registered zero new COVID-19 cases. 

“Our case rates are going down, and conversely, our vaccination rates are steadily going up,” she said. “So as we are reaching community immunity, I’m confident that we will get to the place where we will see more and more people vaccinated.”

But, Do-Reynoso added, the pandemic is not over.

“As we are reopening to normal operations, Public Health is still going to be very vigilant,” she said. “We are still going to monitor our case rates, and we have the infrastructure in place to continue testing, to continue isolation and quarantine, to continue doing contract tracing, as well as to continue doing vaccination. … I’m comfortable, because we have that infrastructure in place, that we can fully reopen.” 

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