Today the State of California announced San Luis Obispo County is officially back in the “purple” tier. (https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/).
This is a severe regression for efforts to open our local economy. Until recently we were in a lower tier of COVID-19 restrictions which meant our local businesses were allowed to operate at higher levels. Unfortunately, recent COVID-19 spikes have pushed us back up the more restrictive level. The 93446 area continues to lead COVID-19 infection numbers in the county by a wide margin.
The big changes to be aware of:
- Restaurants – Must move operations outdoors only
- Fitness Centers (gyms, dance studios, gymnastics studios, yoga, pilates, etc.) – Must move operations outdoors only
- Worship Services – Must move operations outdoors only
- Museums / Zoos – Must move operations outdoors only
- Movie Theatres – Must move operations outdoors only
- Retail locations – Maximum occupancy now only 25 percent (instead of 50 percent)
- Bars/breweries NO changes – still closed unless they serve full sit down meals (and must close when food services end for the evening)
- NO changes for personal care services and hair salons/barbershops
Both ReadySLO webpages (https://www.emergencyslo.org/en/currentrestrictions.aspx and https://www.emergencyslo.org/en/guidanceforsafeoperations.aspx) have been updated to reflect these changes if you are interested in more details.
Although this change is supposed to occur within 24 hours, the City of Paso Robles recognizes the challenge to business sectors to change their operations and there will be a soft compliance period for the next three days to allow businesses time to adjust.
Once again, I urge everyone to wear face-masks, practice aggressive hand-washing and maintain social distancing. The sooner we do, the faster we will recover from this pandemic. For more information please visit prcity.com or readyslo.org.
Stay informed, stay involved, say strong Paso Robles.