Marin businesses expand capacity ahead of state’s full reopening

Social gatherings can get bigger, bars may reopen indoors for the first time in more than a year and gyms can increase capacity as Marin advanced to the yellow COVID-19 tier last week ahead of California’s full statewide reopening June 15.

After spending nine weeks in the orange tier for moderate transmission of the coronavirus, Marin on June 1 received word it was finally able to move into the yellow tier for minimal spread — the state’s least restrictive under its four-tier, color-coded blueprint for reopening the economy county by county. That blueprint is set to be retired next week, when California will uniformly end capacity and physical-distancing rules in most public settings statewide.

“Our community has earned the freedom to open more safely,” Dr. Matt Willis, Marin’s public-health officer, said in a June 1 press statement. “We have our local residents to thank for following the science and best evidence at every stage of this pandemic, including choosing to be vaccinated. Our data shows clearly that vaccines work.”

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