County of Santa Clara Moves Into State’s Orange Tier - Revised Risk Reduction Order Will Allow Resumption of Additional Businesses and Activities Wednesday, October 14

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2020

Contact:
Media Relations
Emergency Operations Center
(408) 808-7863
pio@eoc.sccgov.org

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Santa Clara County, CA – Today, the County of Santa Clara moved into the State of California’s Orange Tier (Tier 3). The Public Health Officer’s new Revised Risk Reduction Order (issued October 5) will go into effect October 14 at 12:01 a.m., which allows additional services in the County to operate, in accordance with the State order. Changes include allowing indoor dining and indoor gatherings, with limitations, and capacity increases for museums, zoos and retail operations.

The fact that these additional activities and capacity are now allowed should not be construed as implying such activities are safe. COVID-19 continues to pose a serious risk throughout our County.  Everyone must remain cautious, maintain social distance, wear a face covering, and move activities outdoors when possible.

While the County is moving into a new tier, there are differences between what the State allows and what the County permits. Unless otherwise indicated in the local health order, all County businesses and activities can resume to the extent allowed under the Orange tier. The following business categories are now allowed to be open indoors with the following capacity limitations:

• Outdoor gatherings of up to 200 people and indoor gatherings of up to 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer. This includes movie theaters, churches, cultural ceremonies. The State generally prohibits other gatherings.
• Indoor dining up to 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer.
• Indoor museums and zoos up to 50% capacity.
• College sports activities without fans following County and State requirements.
• No capacity limitation for malls and other retail businesses.

“We ask that everyone continue their efforts to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in our county,” said Dr. Sara Cody, Health Officer and Director of Public Health for the County of Santa Clara. “Everyone must take responsibility for preventing spread so that we don’t move back to more restrictive tiers under the State’s structure.”

More information on the local health order is available in the Executive Summary and Revised Risk Reduction Order.

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New Mandatory Directives & Information About Submitting Revised Social Distancing Protocols:

• Indoor dining directives: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/Documents/Mandatory-Directives-Dining-10-9-2020.pdf

• Gatherings directives: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/Documents/Mandatory-Directives-Gatherings-10-9-2020.pdf

• Finally, note that all businesses and organizations will need to submit revised Social Distancing Protocols by Oct. 28th (i.e. within 14 days of the Revised Order taking effect).  More information and instructions on how to submit a new Social Distancing Protocol are available here.

For more information about the State framework, visit covid19.ca.gov. For more information on the local public health order and directives, please visit www.sccgov.org/coronavirus.

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