San Francisco, Marin and Santa Clara counties will soon be among the next California counties moving into the orange reopening tier, further easing restrictions for more businesses.
The orange tier changes are expected to be announced Tuesday and take effect as early as Wednesday.
"San Francisco's health indicators continue to improve with COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations dropping steadily," San Francisco's COVID Command Center said in a statement.
COVID Command Center officials warned residents that while the decline in coronavirus cases is encouraging, variants remain a concern.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
"San Francisco is continuing to take health precautions as it reopens. We are aligning with the State's guidelines as much as possible but will add specific safeguards to minimize the risk of the virus spreading. Our approach continues to focus on expanding outdoor activities as much as possible as a safer environment than indoors," officials said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a Santa Clara County spokesperson told NBC Bay Area Sunday that their county posted orange tier numbers last week and if the numbers stay in that range through Tuesday, the county would then move into the orange tier on Wednesday.
Local
In the orange tier, offices can reopen for in-person work schedules of up to 25% capacity and maintaining 25% capacity in conference and meeting rooms.
Other new rules include museums, zoos, and aquariums opening up to 50% capacity indoors, movie theaters can reopen at lesser of 50% or 200 people capacity and shopping centers may expand to 50% capacity.
When the move happens, San Francisco, Marin and Santa Clara will join San Mateo as the second, third and fourth Bay Area counties to move into the orange tier.
All other Bay Area counties are currently in the red tier.
