State eases restrictions on breweries, wineries; bar reopenings in sight
Continuing efforts to slowly loosen COVID-19 business restrictions, state health officials today issued rules allowing breweries and wineries that do not serve meals to reopen outdoors, while also setting a path for the reopening of bars.
According to the updated rules, beginning this Saturday, breweries, wineries and distilleries that do not serve meals will be permitted to reopen outdoors in counties that are in the restrictive "purple" and "red'' tiers of the four-tier Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
Customers must have advance reservations and will be limited to 90 minutes, and all on-site alcoholic beverage consumption must end at 8 p.m.
In counties listed in the less-restrictive "orange" tier, the operations can reopen indoors at 25% capacity, while in the least restrictive "yellow'' tier, indoor capacity can increase to 50%.
The new rules do not apply to breweries, wineries and distilleries that serve food. Those establishments will continue to be governed by the same rules as restaurants.
The state's guidance, however, is subject to approval by individual counties. Counties are permitted to impose tighter restrictions than the state.
Riverside County remains in the most restrictive "purple" tier, but officials said they expect the county to advance to the "red tier" by early next week.
"The state requires meeting specified metrics for two weeks before entering the next reopening tier," Federico said, "Riverside County must continue to meet the current metrics or lower to officially move into the red tier on Wednesday (March 17) or sooner if the state raises the case rate threshold to 10 as anticipated later this week."
FULL DETAILS: Riverside County may be days away from moving out of the purple tier
The new state guidance also maintains the closure of bars in counties in the "purple" and "red'' tiers.
When a county moves into the "orange" tier, bars can reopen outdoors with safety modifications. Bars can reopen indoors at 25% capacity when a county reaches the least-restrictive "yellow'' tier."
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