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California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced a new plan for reopening the state and counties that is more directly related to the risk of the activity or business.

Counties will be given a designation of "purple," "red," "orange," or "yellow" that will determine what types of businesses and activities are allowed in each county. The color will determine how businesses can operate in each county. The new plan is detailed at https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy, where you can also look up business types and activities by county. Each county will be assigned its tier every Tuesday, and a county must remain in a tier for a minimum of 21 consecutive days before moving to the next one. To move forward, a county must meet the next tier's criteria for 14 consecutive days. The rates are an average over the previous seven days and there are two metrics that must be met.

San Joaquin County has been placed in the Purple tier. The State categorizes this risk level as "widespread" with more than seven daily new cases per 100,000 residents, or test positivity greater than 8%. Presently the County’s new case rate is 16.9 per 100K per day. The earliest the County could move into the Red Tier would be September 22. A county can move backwards by failing to meet the criteria for two consecutive weeks, or if state officials see a rapid rise in hospitalizations.
At this time, the San Joaquin County Order has not been changed. Under the new State Blueprint, the following types of businesses must remain closed in San Joaquin County:

• Schools: Schools in the County must remain closed for in-person instruction until the County’s new case level is at or below seven cases per 100K per day for fourteen days. Grades K-6 may apply for a waiver when the County’s new case level decreases to 14 cases per 100K per day.
• Bars, breweries, distilleries, pubs (where no meals are served)
• Concert Venues
• Electrology
• Festivals
• Piercing and Tattoo shops
• Saunas and steam rooms
• Other businesses, while open are limited to operating out of doors, or subject to other restrictions.

San Joaquin County officials are currently reviewing the Blueprint provided by the State and will provide an update next week. The State’s Blueprint will go into effect August 31.