San Francisco became the first Bay Area locale to enter the orange, or “moderate,” tier of California’s color-coded reopening system, a top state health official announced Tuesday, paving the way for further reopening in the city.

Contra Costa County also exited the most severe purple tier, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Dr. Mark Ghaly said Tuesday, leaving Sonoma County as the only jurisdiction in the region still under the most restrictive state measures.

Ghaly said the decision to allow San Francisco to advance came in close conjunction with local health officials.

“San Francisco is moving today after a close set of conversations over the past week with San Francisco County health leadership around data and looking at it closely,” Ghaly said during the virtual news conference.

San Francisco will allow indoor dining and places of worship to operate indoors at 25% capacity starting Wednesday, city officials announced shortly thereafter. Movie theaters will also reopen with modifications and at limited capacity on Oct. 7, and the red tape will come down from playgrounds in mid-October.

“We know this continues to be a challenging time with people struggling economically and emotionally,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement. “However, thanks to San Francisco’s commitment to following public health guidance, we are seeing improvements in our numbers, which means we can continue to move forward with reopening.

“We are committed to following the data and continuing reopening once our local health indicators demonstrate it is safe to do so.”

For Contra Costa County, Tuesday’s movement into the red tier means many sectors now have approval from the state health department to open in limited capacity. However, as San Francisco has exemplified, not all local jurisdictions have moved forward with looser restrictions immediately after receiving the state’s approval.

Despite being one of the few counties deemed red upon the announcement of the new system at the end of August, San Francisco declined to allow for most indoor activities at any capacity. However, officials there have indicated they could move forward with loosening restrictions once the city entered the orange tier, which it did Tuesday.

According to data compiled by this news organization, the positivity rate in San Francisco is lower than 2%, though the official rate listed by the state is exactly 2%. The city’s daily case rate is 5.3 per 100,000, adjusted down to 3.2/100,000 because of the amount of tests being conducted there.

For a county to advance into the orange tier, it must for 14 straight days report fewer than 4 cases per 100,000 with a positivity rate below 5%. San Francisco met that mark after the testing modifier was applied to its case rate.

Two rural counties joined San Francisco in the orange tier: Amador and Calaveras, east of Sacramento, for a total of 14. Another three — Modoc, Alpine and Mariposa — have advanced into the yellow tier, indicating “minimal” transmission.

After this week’s movement, only 18 counties remain in the purple tier, while 23 have advanced into the red tier. Butte, Fresno, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara and Yolo counties also made that move Tuesday along with Contra Costa County.

Ghaly said there were a “number of counties” that had met the next tier’s requirements for one week but hadn’t completed the required two weeks, though.

“Next week we’ll see if those trends hold,” Ghaly said. “Then a number of other counties will be advancing.”

Check back for updates.