Santa Cruz Boardwalk to open; A's ready to welcome fans

Boardwalk to open; A’s ready to welcome fans

With the state loosening COVID restrictions across California, many businesses, entertainment venues and schools can begin to open their doors. Allie Rasmus reports

OAKLAND, Calif. - With the state loosening COVID restrictions across California, many businesses, entertainment venues and schools can begin to open their doors.

In Santa Cruz County, which the state deemed OK to enter the red tier on Tuesday, the Boardwalk is set to open on April 1.

In Alameda County, which also jumped into to the red tier, that's also when the Oakland Coliseum is set to open and welcome A's fans inside the stadium for opening day.

These two counties along with Solano County all were given red-tier clearance to open more businesses for indoor services.

Restaurants can now open at 25% capacity.

Ole's Waffle Shop took full advantage of that on Wednesday morning, welcoming in their first customers at 6 a.m.

Small business owners hope it is a welcome change to spur the local economy.

"With more than 1.5 million residents in Alameda County you've got thousands of businesses, especially small businesses, that have been impacted by the shelter in place orders, said Stephen Baiter of the East Bay Economic Development Alliance. "It's definitely a positive sign to see reopenings start to take place and see things on the horizon."

Sonoma and Contra Costa counties are now the only Bay Area counties that are still in the most restrictive purple tier.

But that may be changing, soon.

The state is going to change the way it allows counties to switch to red and take into consideration the amount of vaccines they've distributed.

If the state does that, both counties would be able to move into the red tier next week.

In fact, school districts in Contra Costa County have been told to expect a shift to the red tier, which would allow, public middle and high schools could reopen.