With California’s COVID-19 cases dropping, places in the Central Coast are beginning to open up again. This includes being able to eat inside of restaurants again, which people have not been able to do for months.
Places that can open now include gyms, movie theaters, zoos, and malls. The only catch is that these can only hold a limited capacity, which would be much smaller than usual. People will also be required to wear masks most of the time. Professional sports games are now open to be played as well, but with no live spectators in attendance. Lastly, K-12 schools will remain closed for in person instruction, unless San Luis Obispo County can stay in the “red tier” for two weeks.
One of the main things happening with SLO County being moved into the “red tier” is that people can dine inside of restaurants now. Sea Shanty for example, has been using outside dining during the pandemic. But now, things are changing. Sea Shanty employee Jordon Poole said, “we have just recently opened inside dining but only to 25% capacity which is only 3 tables for us.” He also said that they have had most of the tables sectioned off, from the outside, so people cannot sit there, but recently some have been opened up to eat at.
One main attraction around this time of year is Brookshire Farm’s Pumpkin Patch in Los Osos. The farm opened for business on October 1st, despite the COVID-19 concerns. They sell a variety of gourds and squashes as well as pumpkins. Junior Emma Gragson started working there and listed some of the new changes, “They have no bounce houses, less people allowed in the maze, masks and lots of sanitizing.” By the looks of it, Brookshire Farms is looking like they are taking everybody’s safety as a top priority.
California’s governor Newsom’s plan to reopen has four tiers of regulations depending on the spread in a county. Since SLO County has moved into the “red tier”, some places have been allowed to reopen at a fraction of their capacity. The purple tier is when COVID is “widespread” and has a higher than 8% positivity rate, which is what some of our surrounding counties are in. Kern County and Monterey are both still in the purple tier. Needless to say, with SLO County moving down a tier, it gives us hope that life can go back to normal. If SLO can move into the next tier down, (yellow tier) even more places will be allowed to reopen.
