With the regional stay-at-home order lifted, what does it mean for Central Coast Counties?

CENTRAL COAST, Calif. (KION-TV) -- The regional stay-at-home order is now a thing of the past for California, but this doesn't mean all businesses can re-open.

In fact, some counties can choose to be as strict as the order offered in order to tame what has been a devastating pandemic, even a year after it began.

We've reached out to our counties on the Central Coast to see if they'll choose to be more strict, or if they'll move to fall in line with the state in abolishing the regional stay-at-home order.

Jumping out of the order would mean counties would be placed back in the state's "tier" system in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy the state issued months ago.

CENTRAL COAST COUNTIES ELECT TO MOVE BACK TO "TIER SYSTEM"

All Central Coast county officials in San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz have told us they will fall in line with the state and will now shift to the tier-based system.

But there's a catch in that, too. Monterey County hasn't left the most restrictive purple tier since that system started.

Santa Cruz and San Benito have gone up and down the tier system. At one point the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk was able to reopen because Santa Cruz County's numbers were that well off.

But now those counties are stuck with Monterey County in the purple tier again.

WHAT CAN BE OPEN IN THE STATE'S TIER SYSTEM?

Some of the more notable changes from the regional stay-at-home order is that personal care services at barber shops, nail salons, tattoo shops are back for indoor operations at limited capacity.

Restaurants can also operate with indoor dining as an option. The regional order listed take-out as the only option for restaurants.

Wineries can operate outdoors while bars will have to shut their doors.

Aquariums can only allow for outdoor operations, too, meaning the Monterey Bay Aquarium will remain closed unless Monterey County's numbers improve.

The boardwalk mentioned early in Santa Cruz will also stay closed until the county's numbers improved.

So while restrictions lessen with the tier-based system compared to the regional order, there's still a sense of work to be done in terms of putting this virus to bed.

For a refresher on the state's tier-based Blueprint for a Safer Economy system, click here