Only one Bay Area county isn't allowing sit-down restaurants to reopen

ByAlix Martichoux KGO logo
Friday, June 12, 2020
Ready for the new normal? San Francisco outdoor dining reopens Friday
San Francisco's reopening date for outdoor dining just got moved up, right in time for the weekend.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- UPDATE, June 12, 4:10 p.m.: Alameda County's health officer announced shelter-in-place restrictions would be amended to allow outdoor restaurant dining, as well as outdoor musuems, religious services, indoor/outdoor retail, and outdoor fitness classes starting June 19. Read the original story below.

As counties continually ease their COVID-19 shelter-in-place restrictions, you'll be able to go out to eat this week just about anywhere in the Bay Area. Everywhere except Alameda County.

The East Bay county is the lone standout, still not allowing for any sit-down dining at restaurants, indoor or outdoor. While the curve of new coronavirus cases has flattened in other Bay Area counties, it's been steadily rising in Alameda since March. It now has the highest total case count in the region, surpassing Santa Clara County.

RELATED: Berkeley epidemiologist 'cautiously concerned' over rise in COVID-19 cases in Alameda County

Napa County was the first to allow for sit-down dining back on May 19. The rest of the North Bay counties followed shortly thereafter. Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties reopened outdoor restaurants over the weekend. San Francisco hasn't reopened restaurants just yet; Mayor London Breed announced they'd be allowed to resume outdoor dining service starting Friday.

When asked when Alameda County might join the pack, a spokesperson for the county's public health department said, "We don't have a set date, but according to our reopening plan, outdoor dining will be considered for reopening in the next 2-4 weeks."

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Solano and Sonoma counties have moved even further and have now reopened restaurants for indoor dining at limited capacity.

While there's been no movement on the restaurant front, Alameda County has loosened other restrictions lately. On Friday, they modified their stay-at-home order to allow for small social gatherings, or "social bubbles."

ABC7 News' Kate Eby contributed to this report.