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Three Bay Area Counties Reopen as Infections Hit Lowest Rate

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On Tuesday, State Health Officials announced that three more Bay Area counties will be allowed to reopen additional businesses. 

 

Solano, Alameda and San Mateo can now open gyms, movie theaters, and restaurants, among other businesses. These counties are able to reopen because rates of COVID-19 cases have remained low over the last two weeks. 

 

To be clear, it won’t be business as usual: Places that reopen will have to limit the number of people inside at any given time. 

 

The new counties will join San Francisco, Napa, Santa Clara and Marin, who already reopened businesses with these restrictions. 

 

But State Secretary of Health and Human Services, https://youtu.be/l1_IDiesMYk">Mark Ghaly warns that new openings don’t mean that people can let their guard down. He says that a slow and intentional reopening protects our progress.

 

“We want to be slow and stringent so as we move forward we can be best prepared in case we see some increase in transmission, that it doesn’t cause us to take one giant step backwards.”

Officials hope widespread testing will help counties contain any outbreaks. And thanks to increased testing capacity, there are no longer restrictions on who can get tested. State officials estimate that now more than 170,000 tests are done every day and nearly 70% of people get their test results back in 24 hours.

 

 

Annelise was born and raised in the East Bay and has a background in oral history and urban studies. For the last four and half years, she's worked as a criminal defense investigator at a public defenders office in the Bronx, New York and at an appellate defenders office in the Bay Area. As an investigator, she frequently interviews people involved in different parts of the criminal punishment system. Through her work, she has become passionate about the power of personal narratives and compelling stories to increase cross-cultural understanding and initate change.