Placer County’s COVID-19 risk level downgraded. What that means for schools, restaurants

Placer and Amador counties on Tuesday joined El Dorado on the list of counties in the Sacramento region with state approval to reopen schools and some businesses, including indoor dining at restaurants at up to 25% capacity.

State officials said the COVID-19 infection rates in those counties have dropped enough in the last two weeks to allow the counties to be moved from California’s most restrictive closure category to the second-most restrictive, in which COVID-19 is “substantial.” The tiers are part of a color-coded reopening system launched last month by Gov. Gavin Newsom that assesses coronavirus prevalence and testing rates.

“Our residents have worked extremely hard and taken precautions to get our numbers down. While we are glad that our county is finally in the red (substantial) tier, we continue to believe the current monitoring system is an ineffective method of reducing the spread of COVID,” said Bonnie Gore, chair of the Placer County Board of Supervisors. “We will continue to encourage our residents and businesses to take precautions, but our businesses and community will continue to suffer if we cannot allow them to reopen as much as possible.”

Restaurants in El Dorado, Nevada and Calaveras counties were among the state’s first to reopen for indoor dining last week. Placer County’s turn came not a day too late, as hazardous air from wind-swept dust and wildfire smoke made outdoor patios unappealing.

Roseville restaurants Buck & Sadies, Sienna, House of Oliver and Land Ocean New American Grill were all open indoors Monday, as was Monkey Cat in Auburn and Old Town Pizza in Lincoln. Though bars aren’t yet permitted to open in any capacity, breweries such as Knee Deep and Moksa were seating people inside Monday as well thanks to adjacent food trucks.

Placer County schools can open

The move also allows schools in Placer County to reopen for in-classroom instruction for all grades. Prior to Tuesday, county officials were allowing some schools to reopen under a special “waiver” program. No blanket reopenings are planned, meaning each district in Placer County will decide independently when and how to reopen, following the county’s guidelines.

Michelle Eklund, spokeswoman for the Placer County Office of Education, said Rocklin Unified School District, Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District, Placer Union High School District and Loomis already had plans in place to begin hybrid reopening or staggered class schedules ahead of Tuesday’s announcement.

Roseville City School District, which oversees elementary and middle schools in Roseville, said it will now put plans into place to do the same.

“The Roseville City School District plans to return students to school in a hybrid model now that Placer County can do so,” Superintendent Derk Garcia said in an email.

Auburn Union and Tahoe Truckee are looking to reopen in early October, Eklund said.

“We have reiterated from the beginning that there would not be a ‘one size fits all solution’ for Placer County schools,” Eklund said. “Each school district has unique challenges, student needs and capacity. What we do know is that this year will likely be a series of starts and stops. Our goal is to support districts in safely reopening – and staying open.”

Coronavirus in Placer

Placer has identified 3,220 COVID cases since the pandemic hit six months ago, including 22 new cases on Tuesday. Thirty-six people have died in the county, 32 of them age 65 or older, and four between the ages of 50 and 64.

Most notably, the county’s testing positivity rate over the past week is 4.7%. That is below the 5% threshold advised by the World Health Organization as the safe level for reopening businesses, schools and other aspects of society.

Alongside Tuesday’s announcement, the Placer County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to lift the county-wide local state of emergency, with board members saying the current restrictions are no longer necessary in light of Placer County’s low infection rate and ample hospital space.

“I think looking in the rear view mirror, we can see that emergency never materialized and we’re fully justified in calling the end of the state of emergency, and in fact I believe we have an obligation to call an end to the local state of emergency,” said Supervisor Kirk Uhler, who represents north Roseville and Granite Bay.

County Executive Todd Leopold said the resolution to lift the local emergency doesn’t make any “significant” changes and people still must abide by the state’s stay-at-home order.

Board Chair Gore expressed frustration at what she said was a lack of clarification and guidance from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, citing that they had sent four letters to the state administration with no response.

“I want people to know that we care about people’s lives, but we also care about all the other effects that this pandemic has had and this shutdown has had on the lives of our community,” Gore said. “These numbers do not warrant a local health emergency. They do not. And if we don’t say something to the governor, if we don’t stand up and say this is not correct, who else can do that?”