Update: Here’s what’s changing as Stanislaus County moves to orange tier
Stanislaus County moved into the orange tier of California’s coronavirus regulations Tuesday, serving to loosen restrictions on businesses and activities.
It comes a week before the state is scheduled to remove capacity limits from businesses and do away with the tier system.
In a presentation to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday, Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, county public health officer, said the county’s COVID-19 case rate and test positivity data qualified for orange status for a second consecutive week.
The change to orange status became official at noon.
Stanislaus County recorded an adjusted case rate of 5 per 100,000. The county public health officer was pleased with the test positivity rate of 3 percent for the entire county and 2.4 percent in underserved neighborhoods.
Under the state guidance for orange, signifying moderate spread of COVID-19, local restaurants, movie theaters and churches are at 50 percent capacity. Gyms expand to 25 percent capacity, and receptions and conferences may be held indoors for 150 people if participants are tested or fully vaccinated.
Wineries and brewers may be open at 25 percent capacity, with a 100-person cap indoors. Capacity is 50 percent for zoos and museums.
There is no longer a capacity limit for retail stores.
Stanislaus was the only county to advance to the less restrictive orange tier Tuesday, leaving three counties in the second most restrictive red status. As of Tuesday, 31 counties in California were in the orange tier and 24 were in yellow, which indicates minimal transmission of the virus.
The neighboring counties of San Joaquin, Tuolumne and Merced were also in orange. San Francisco, Alameda and Santa Clara counties were among the counties in yellow.
Mary Ann Lilly, managing director of the county Health Services Agency, said county vaccine clinics held six days a week are administering fewer shots.
The clinics injected 1,552 doses the week ending June 5, which was down from 2,159 and 3,262 in the previous two weeks.
The county vaccine program is holding more clinics at schools and doing more to target younger adults. People age 12 and over are eligible for vaccinations.
“It’s slower but we are still reaching individuals,” Lilly said.
According to state data, the county has 176,096 residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or 32 percent of the population.
The county Health Services Agency has a schedule of clinics and other locations where coronavirus vaccine is available, at www.schsa.org.
This story was originally published June 8, 2021 at 9:52 AM.
