Governor Newsom recently announced that stay-at-home orders have been lifted. As a result, the state has gone back to color-coded tiers to determine which guidelines are to be implemented. San Bernardino County is in the Purple Tier which is the highest tier on the list. According to First District Supervisor Paul Cook several new guidelines have been implemented. 1) Restaurants who were limited to take-out and delivery, may now provide outdoor dining. 2) Hair and nail salons, barbershops, and other personal services may now reopen with limited capacity. 3) Grocery stores may expand capacity to 50%, compared to 35% under the prior restrictions. 4) Retailers may increase capacity from 20% to 25% capacity. 5)Hotels and other short-term rental lodging can serve the public with restrictions. 6) Campground closures are lifted. And, 7) Museums and zoos can resume outside operations.
In order to move into the Red Tier, which allows indoor dining, the County’s positivity rate needs to fall below 8%. Currently, as of Jan. 25, the County’s overall positivity rate was 16.3%.
COVID-19 vaccines are still extremely limited. While the county remains hopeful that vaccine supplies will increase, there are over 400,000 residents 65 years or older that are now allowed to receive the vaccine.
At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Andrew Goldfrach, Chief Operational Officer at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center stated “Johnson and Johnson will likely be the next pharmaceutical coming to us, hopefully this month.” He went on to say “The great thing about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is that it is a single shot vaccine. We are also being told that Moderna is ramping up their production, which will hopefully bring a 30% bump in additional vaccines to the state.”
Currently, vaccines are available to residents 65 on older, healthcare personnel, long-term care facility residents, and essential critical infrastructure workers. Fire and police personnel are also now eligible under Phase 1b, Tier 1 of the State’s vaccination plan.
Vaccinations, first and second doses, are given by appointment only, which can be made online at the County’s website at sbcovid19.com/vaccine/locations. Current locations where vaccines can be administered by appointment only, are the San Bernardino County Health Center, Ontario Health Center, Hesperia Health Center, ARMC Family Health Center-McKee, ARMC Family Health Center-Westside Clinic, Stat of California OptumServe Cavvine Clinic, Redlands Community Hospital, San Antonio Regional Hospital, Mountain Community Hospital, Pharmacies at Save-On, Vons, Ralph’s and Rite-Aid. Visit sbcovid19.com for any county related pandemic information.
