Indoor dining has been widespread in South San Joaquin County for weeks.

At the same time many gyms have had members working out indoors while almost all retail for months hasn’t been counting those entering stores to make sure they don’t exceed COVID-19 protocols.

It is why San Joaquin County dropping down into the red tier today may not be that earthshattering of a development for many businesses as the county order essentially makes what they have been doing legal instead of illegal.

There are still some big changes that can be seen in the coming days.

*AMC Showplace had previously indicated once the county dropped into the red tier they would reopen the 16-screen movie complex at The Promenade at Orchard Valley that’s been shuttered since March 2020. Under the red tier rules, each of the 16 theaters can open at 25 percent or 100 guests, whichever is less.

*Museums — such as the Manteca Historical Museum — can legally reopen for the first time in 13 months. They can operate in the red at 25 percent capacity.

*Places of worship can gather inside at 25 percent of capacity.

*Restaurants won’t have to worry about running afoul with the law by being open to indoor dining. Restaurants will now be able to have 25 percent of iindoor capacity to be in use or 100 people, whichever is fewer.

*Gyms and fitness centers can now legally operate inside at 10 percent capacity.
*Libraries can open at 50 percent capacity.

*Retail can now accommodate customers up to 50 percent capacity.

There are only two of California’s 57 counties — Merced and Inyo — that are still in the purple tier. San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Sacramento counties are among the 22 counties in the red tier. There are 32 counties in the yellow tier including Alameda, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara.

The two counties in the lowest tier are Sierra and Alpine. The two counties have 3,040   and 1,219 residents respectively making them the two smallest counties in the state in terms of population.

Counties must remain in a tier for at least three weeks before moving to a less restrictive tier. Counties must meet the next tier’s criteria for two consecutive weeks to move to a less restrictive tier. If a county’s metrics worsen for two consecutive weeks, it will be assigned a more restrictive tier.

Manteca deaths from

COVID now at 108

Manteca as of Monday has had 6,751 tested positive for COVID with 96.28 percent having already recovered. The number of Manteca residents that have died is 108.

Lathrop has tallied 2,276 cases of which 97.5 percent have recovered. There have been 20 deaths in Lathrop.

Ripon also has recorded 20 deaths. There have been 1,292 people test positive in Ripon with 95.43 of those people already having recovered.

Since mid-March 2020 there have been 70,465 positive cases out of 767,000 residents in San Joaquin County. There are currently 1,334 people that are positive with COVID-19. Those testing positive do not always get sick or show symptoms.

Countywide there have been 1,325 deaths.

To date, 13,858 or 22.85 percent of the targeted Manteca population of 60,638 has been fully vaccinated. There have been 9,200 or 15.17   percent partially vaccinated. The target population is less than the city’s population as there has not been an approved vaccine for those under 16 developed yet.

Lathrop has 3,481 or 20.79 percent of the targeted population of 16,745 fully vaccinated. Another 3,070 or 18.33 percent have been partially vaccinated.

Ripon has 3,485 or 27.84 percent of the targeted population of 12,338 fully vaccinated. Another 1,663 or 13.48 percent have been partially vaccinated.

25 out of 27,000

MUSD students &

staff currently positive

In a major shift, Doctors Hospital of Manteca has 61 of its 71 beds in use with just three COVID patients. All eight ICU beds are occupied but there are no COVID patients. Kaiser Foundation Hospital Manteca has 30 beds in use including 13 COVID patients.

Overall 68 percent or 670 beds in the seven hospitals in the county are now in use. Of those 64 or 10 percent of the beds have COVID patients.

The ICU capacity is at 97 percent with 96 beds occupied. Among the ICU beds are in use, 19 percent are COVID patients.

The Manteca Unified School District dashboard as of April 1 shows 22 students and three staff members out of 27,000 currently positive with COVID.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com