State Health office: Monterey County expected to move into less-restrictive “red tier” on Tuesday

MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) -- The California Department of Public Health announced multiple counties will move into the less-restrictive red tier beginning Tuesday, with Monterey County expected to be one of them.

The state says this is possible after they've met their goal of administering vaccines to 2 million people in the zip code locations most impacted by the virus.

According to the California Department of Public Health, "With this equity metric met, and because vaccines slow the spread of disease and serious illness, the previously announced update to the Blueprint for a Safer Economy to account for progress with vaccine administration goes into effect."

For Monterey County, this means indoor operations can resume at restaurants, gyms and fitness centers. Movie theaters would also be able to resume operations indoors, however all would be subject to capacity limits.

"It's been anxiety provoking for sure, not knowing when or if we would get back to normal," said Carla, a Carmel resident.

"I just hope that everything can open up and Carmel can get back to the way it was, it's just so empty," said Jennifer A., who was visiting Carmel on Friday.

This also means the heart of the Monterey Peninsula, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, would be able to reopen to 25% capacity for the first time since the pandemic started.

California Department of Public Health says these changes would take effect Wednesday. Monterey County is one of the only counties in the state to have never left the purple tier.

For more on what can reopen in the red tier, you can click here