Coronavirus slows down in Stanislaus County but ‘red’ restrictions are still in place
Stanislaus County showed signs of slower transmission of COVID-19, but remains under the red tier restrictions of California’s strategy for controlling the coronavirus pandemic.
The county’s daily adjusted case rate dropped to 8.7 per 100,000 population in the weekly update reported Tuesday by the state Department of Public Health. The rate was 10.3 per 100,000 a week ago.
Test positivity was 3.6 percent for the entire county and 3.5 percent in underserved communities, an improvement over the previous week.
The county’s positive test rates meet the qualifications for orange tier but daily cases need to fall to 5.9 per 100,000 or lower for promotion to orange. Stanislaus could also reach the orange tier by lowering positive tests to 2 percent.
The red tier status places a 25 percent capacity limit on indoor restaurants and also imposes regulations on retail stores, fitness centers, movie theaters, museums and churches.
A shift in state tier assignments Tuesday left 10 counties, with a total population of 4.4 million, in the red tier representing substantial spread of COVID-19 illness. California now has 35 counties in the orange tier with substantial transmission and 13 counties in yellow with minimal spread of the virus.
San Joaquin and Merced counties also remained in red.
The state is shooting for a June 15 date for a full reopening of the economy and end to the color-coded regulations.
