Indoor dining capacity would increase, non-essential offices could open, and indoor gym capacity would increase, among a number of other changes.
[Ads /]
Indoor dining is currently at 25% in San Francisco but if the city moves into the orange tier this week, like expected, capacity will increase to 50%.
MORE: Map shows which counties can, can't reopen under reopening tiers
"Going up to 50% will definitely help, people's appetites for eating indoors are increasing every single day," says Chris Buffalino. Buffalino is General Manager at Doppio Zero Ristoranti in Hayes Valley. He says while the news is exciting and more patrons are coming out, he believes more non-essential businesses need to open for them to benefit.
"The residents of Hayes Valley can only afford to eat out so many days a week and eventually we're really going to have to see the theaters reopening, we're going to need to see the civic center in general reopening," says Buffalino.
The eased orange tier restrictions could come as soon as Wednesday and would allow for non-essential offices to come back at 25% capacity, bars could open outdoors without food, and gyms would be allowed to increase their indoor capacity from 10 to 25%.
"That feels a little bit too risky for me just because you are touching all of the same equipment and I think it's kind of hard to monitor sanitizing things after each use," says Grace Hua of San Francisco.
UCSF's Dr. Peter Chin-Hong says that while he is very concerned about current COVID-19 surges in states like Michigan and European countries, the fact is San Francisco numbers are improving.
RELATED: Newsom says in less than 6 weeks all Californians can access COVID-19 vaccine
"We're about 31 cases a day in San Francisco, which is 10 times less than where we were in December," says Dr. Chin-Hong.
Still though many wonder if and when new habits will change with the change of the tier.
[Ads /]
"A few days ago I was at a restaurant where the wait for indoors was zero minutes and eating outside was an extra 30 minutes and we decided to wait and eat outdoors," says Jinnie Rhee of San Francisco.
State officials will announce updated COVID-19 numbers and tier information on Tuesday. If numbers hold or improve we'll go into the orange tier and that would take effect Wednesday morning.
Having trouble loading the tracker above? Click here to open it in a new window.
RELATED STORIES & VIDEOS:
- Map shows which counties can, can't reopen under reopening tiers
- Cheat sheet: What you can and can't do after being fully vaccinated
- How to register for a COVID-19 vaccine in every Bay Area county
- Map shows everywhere you can get a COVID-19 test in the Bay Area
- Interactive map shows what's closed and what's reopening in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Data tracker: Coronavirus cases, deaths, hospitalizations in every Bay Area county
- Third stimulus check calculator: See how much you could get
- COVID-19 Diaries: Personal stories of Bay Area residents during pandemic
- Get the latest updates on California EDD, stimulus checks, unemployment benefits
- Coronavirus origin: Where did COVID-19 come from?
- What is a COVID-19 genetic, antigen and antibody test?
- What does COVID-19 do to your body and why does it spread so easily?
- Coronavirus Timeline: Tracking major moments of COVID-19 pandemic in San Francisco Bay Area
- Coronavirus Doctor's Note: Dr. Alok Patel gives his insight into COVID-19 pandemic
[Ads /]