When is Stanislaus County likely to get to the ‘red tier’ of coronavirus restrictions?
The winter surge of COVID-19 illness has faded and trend lines suggest Stanislaus County will qualify sometime next month for a new tier with fewer restrictions on businesses and activities.
In a state update Tuesday, the county’s test positivity rate fell below the 8 percent threshold, which meets one of the requirements for moving from the purple to red tier of California’s reopening plan.
The county’s adjusted case rate of 20.8 per 100,000 population was almost three times too high for red status, however. The county also needs to shave a percentage point off the 8.9 percent test positivity in economically disadvantaged areas. The data targets for the red tier are 7 cases per 100,000 and positive test results below 8 percent.
Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, county health officer, was optimistic in her report to county supervisors Tuesday. She displayed a graph showing a downward trend in new cases crossing the red tier line about March 2.
The county needs to meet the requirements for two consecutive weeks to change tiers, which potentially sets up the county for tier reassignment around March 15, Vaishampayan said.
The red tier would allow the long-awaited reopening of middle schools and high schools for in-class instruction under campus safety plans.
With the lighter restrictions, restaurants could reopen indoors at 25 percent capacity; retail stores could operate at 50 percent; fitness centers and dance studios could open indoors at 10 percent capacity; churches and cultural ceremonies could be indoors at 25 percent.
The red tier permits indoor lectures at colleges at 25 percent normal capacity, though regular capacity is allowed for courses such as labs and studio arts.
Case numbers need to come down
The Stanislaus Health Services Agency reported 110 new cases on its dashboard Tuesday. Generally speaking, the 7-day case average needs to be 40 or below.
There were 112 COVID-confirmed patients in local hospitals and 26 in intensive care units. Those same numbers were three times higher in December. The months of December and January set new records for coronavirus deaths at 188 and 212, respectively.
Vaishampayan noted that Saturday will mark the one-year anniversary of launching the county’s emergency operations center, which mobilized county resources in battling the COVID pandemic.
