As of March 17, 2021, Monterey County is in the Red Tier for Substantial in California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
On August 31, 2020, the State of California implemented a Color Tier System to help track the loosening and tightening of restrictions by County. Counties are assigned to a Color Tier by COVID-19 risk level.
Monterey County is now in the Red Tier for Substantial.
The following has changed:
- Restaurants can operate indoors with 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer
- Movie Theaters can operate indoors with 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer
- Museums, Zoos, and Aquariums can operate indoors with 25% capacity
- Gyms can operate indoors with 10% capacity
- Retail stores (clothing, books, jewelry, etc.) may open at a maximum 50% capacity
- Grocery stores may operate indoors at a 100% capacity
What’s Next
Orange Tier
Moderate
- Some indoor business operations are open with modifications
- 1-3.9 daily new COVID-19 cases (per 100k)
- 2-4.9% positive COVID-19 tests
Yellow Tier
Minimal
- Most indoor business operations are open with modifications
- Less than 1 daily new COVID-19 cases (per 100k)
- Less than 2% positive COVID-19 tests
How to move between risk levels
There are two measures to determine how counties move through tiers: case rates and test positivity. The state has been tracking these measures through regular progression and accelerated progression. To move to a higher tier with regular progression, a county must meet the case rate and test positivity thresholds for that tier for two consecutive weeks.
Accelerated progression requires that test positivity and health equity metric are especially low with a declining case rate to move to a less restrictive tier. Read comprehensive detail about how counties can move through tiers.
To learn more about California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, please visit: https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/#tier-assignments
