And just like that, the California Department of Public Health ended the Covid-19 regional stay-at-home order today, Jan. 25, with almost no notice. It takes effect immediately and means outdoor dining is able to return, along with hair and nail salons with modifications, according to a CDPH press release.
Also coming to an end is the 10pm-5am nightly curfew.
"It's like a miracle happened overnight," one woman commented on the Monterey County Health Department Facebook page, where county officials posted the news this morning.
According to CDPH officials, the four-week ICU bed capacity projections for the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions are above 15 percent, the threshold set by the state in December. The Sacramento Region exited the order Jan. 12 and the Northern California Region never entered into it.
That means all counties in California return to the color-coded tier system under the Blueprint for a Safer Economy. Monterey County remains where it's been since that system was created last summer, in the Purple Tier, meaning the Covid-19 virus remains widespread.
The state is reporting Monterey County's adjusted case rate at 80.3 cases per day per 100,000 residents. It's health equity index test positivity rate is at 27.7 percent. Both numbers would have to drastically decrease to single digits in order to enter into the less restrictive Red Tier.
The county returns to the place it was prior to entering the stay-at-home order on Dec. 13. That still means no indoor dining, but outdoor dining may return. It also means personal care services can resume indoors under state guidelines issued on Oct. 20.
As for hotels, the state's website says in-state reservations are restricted to essential reasons only and reservations for out-of-state non-essential travel must include a 10-day quarantine period upon arrival. The state remains under a travel advisory issued Jan. 6 that encourages residents to restrict any non-essential travel to less than 120 miles, plus no non-essential travel out of state or out of the country.
“California is slowly starting to emerge from the most dangerous surge of this pandemic yet, which is the light at the end of the tunnel we’ve been hoping for,” said California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly in a written statement.
“Seven weeks ago, our hospitals and front-line medical workers were stretched to their limits, but Californians heard the urgent message to stay home when possible and our surge after the December holidays did not overwhelm the health care system to the degree we had feared," he said.