Bars in Ada County are now allowed to reopen as West Ada and Boise School Districts shift to category two for coronavirus community spread.
Central District Health's Board approved a motion Sept. 3 to allow bars in Ada County to reopen once the county's school districts moved out of red category three and into yellow category two for community spread.
Both districts were marked category two Tuesday morning.
Central District Health's updated order specifies bars will operate similar to a food establishment model and must follow specific guidelines to maintain public health and safety standards. Bars and nightclubs will be required to create and submit an operational plan following CDH guidelines to be reviewed and approved by CDH before reopening, according to CDH.
The CDH board is able to implement specific orders regarding bars and nightclubs in the future if deemed necessary and will not be tied to the operational category for the school districts.
The school district's operational categories are determined based on two-week average of daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in a given county and as assessed each Monday.
More information on bar and nightclub reopening criteria and how to submit a plan can be found on the CDH website.
The Boise School District has moved up its deadline for public comments about the draft phased plan from September 11 to noon on September 9. The district will review the comments and release a final plan on September 10.
"We are excited that our community’s collective efforts have worked to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and Central District Health has placed us in Category 2 (yellow) and we can begin to implement our phased plan to get students back safely in our schools," said Superintendent Coby Dennis.
Schools within the district will be providing families with more information about the phased return to in-person learning and answering questions this week.
Students in the West Ada School District will continue online classes through the rest of this week. Starting next Monday, they will likely go to an alternating daily schedule of in-person and online classes. Kindergarten and Pre-K will return to full-time, in-person classes.
