Photo by Katie Lauer Above the din of conversation and faint whiffs of cigarette smoke inside Caravan Lounge in downtown San Jose, Billy Joel's "Piano Man" serenades customers spaced six feet apart underneath party lights at the bar. "I still feel like we should sway," Amy Conners says, arms outstretched to her fellow patrons. It's only a Wednesday, but Conners is in a celebrating mood, because this is the first night residents of Santa Clara County can gather inside bars—without the pretext of dinner—in more than a year. The South Bay moved into the yellow tier, California's least restrictive set of rules for the pandemic, following record low Covid-19 cases and increasing vaccination rates.