California officials approve Monterey County's request for reopening dine-in restaurants and other sectors.

Monterey and Santa Cruz counties have been cleared by the California Department of Public Health to advance to the next stage of reopening during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The county's variance request was approved on Saturday, and takes effect immediately. That means some restaurants that have been preparing for the "new normal" will be reopening for dine-in service as early as tonight. 

That includes Big Sur's Nepenthe, where Kirk Gafill says he "got repetitive stress syndrome from hitting the refresh button" on the CDPH website the past few days. Nepenthe will be open for dinner starting at 5pm tonight (and will continue offering takeout, which began on May 13 after nearly two months of a full closure for the iconic restaurant). 

"As an industry I expect we'll be at 15-30 percent at normal levels, and that’s not sustainable or viable, but it's necessary to get the engine running," Gafill says. "Our goal will be to make it as similar as possible to the traditional Nepenthe dining experience." 

Key differences: There will be no seating at the bar, there will be fewer tables to provide distancing between customers and staff will be required to adhere to regular sanitizing protocols. 

Those guidelines and more are spelled out by the state in industry-specific sets of policies that give direction to restaurants, construction workers, retailers and more on how they can operate while maintaining practices intended to slow the spread of Covid-19.  

All of California has advanced into stage 2, meaning in-person retail at stores and malls is again allowed, as well as in-person religious services (with those state guidelines in mind). 

Counties have the option of applying to CDPH for a variance, allowing for additional sectors to reopen, if they can show they've met certain criteria for Covid-19 testing capacity, sufficient ICU beds, and stabilized the rate of the virus spreading. If a county begins to experience a surge in cases or fatalities, a more restrictive health order walking back the reopening status would take effect.

The Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on Tuesday to submit the variance request.  

Fifty-one out of California's 58 counties now have a variance approved to move into stage 2.5—the statewide reopening plus some additional sectors. 

The list of what is permitted to reopen in Monterey County now includes: barbershops and hair salons; schools; libraries for curbside pickup; childcare (for those outside of the "essential" workforce, which was previously allowed); cleaning or janitorial services for commercial and residential spaces; car washes; dog walking; pet grooming; dine-in restaurants.

It's important to note that the county's shelter-in-place order does remain in effect, with amendments—you might think of this as SIP 3.0. The changes allow for some industries to be open, with Covid-19 prevention protocols in place, but specifies that certain restrictions are still in place—no gatherings, no concerts, no bars and more, for the time being.

In addition, hotels and short-term rentals are still not permitted to operate for purposes of tourism; they continue to be allowed to be open for the purposes of housing essential workers, or housing people who need to self-isolate due to exposure to Covid-19 but don't have housing environments that allow them to do so. In addition, Monterey County's face covering requirement remains in effect.

Clarification: While the County Board of Supervisors requested that wine-tasting rooms be included in the variance, for now the state's standards apply and only wine-tasting rooms that offer full meals are permitted to open for sit-down service.