Stanislaus County remains stuck in coronavirus purple tier. Case rate was too high.
Stanislaus County did not meet the data requirements Tuesday for qualifying for the red tier of the state’s coronavirus reopening plan.
The county needs to be in the red tier for local middle schools and high schools to open later this month. In addition, moving from the most restrictive purple tier to red will serve to remove constraints on businesses like restaurants and fitness centers.
Top county officials were still hopeful the state criteria will be met next week and the county can move to the less restrictive red tier by the week of March 15.
In a state update Tuesday, Stanislaus County’s case rate of COVID-19 illness was 15.6 per 100,000, which is about twice the rate for qualifying for red tier and lighter restrictions on businesses and schools.
The county met the two other state-required measures for test positivity (6.3 percent) and health equity test rate (7.3 percent), both of which were under the 8 percent threshold.
Stanislaus could make the red tier by the week of March 15 — the target for opening some schools — if the general case rate falls below 7 per 100,000 in next week’s review.
Another path to the red tier is for the countywide test positivity rate and health equity rate to drop below 4.9 percent and 5.2 percent respectively. If that happens, the county qualifies for the new tier even if new cases remain in the purple.
The state review next week looks at the county data for this week. Two consecutive weeks of data meeting the criteria gets the county to red tier by the week of March 15.
With a statewide decline in COVID-19 transmission, seven counties in California were moved to the red tier this week. They include Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Napa, El Dorado, Modoc and Lassen counties.
The California Department of Public Health reviews county data for tier assignment every Monday and releases the results on Tuesdays.
