3 California counties move to looser COVID tiers. Sacramento, Placer still waiting
California health officials promoted three counties to looser COVID-19 restriction levels Tuesday, two of them moving into the least-stringent tier in the framework.
Mono and San Mateo counties moved from the so-called orange tier into the loosest tier, yellow. Madera County advanced from red to orange.
Modoc, Monterey and Sonoma had also entered the week eligible to move from orange to yellow, but their case rates rose. Del Norte County’s rate also kept it from advancing, to orange.
In the capital region, Sacramento and Placer counties failed again to record one of the two necessary, consecutive weeks of meeting orange-tier requirements necessary to advance to that level, with their plateauing case rates improving only very slightly compared to last week, according to the weekly data released by the California Department of Public Health.
The cutoff between the red and orange tiers is six daily cases per 100,000 residents. Sacramento County recorded 7.5 per 100,000 last week and 7.3 per 100,000 this week; Placer moved from 6.5 to 6.4.
Sacramento and Placer health officials have recently said the stagnant coronavirus numbers may be attributed to numerous different factors and don’t appear to be the product of any one large outbreak source. Local health leaders say continuing to vaccinate residents will be critical to help drive down case rates.
Tuesday’s update from CDPH marked one of the final weekly assessments before the state plans to drop the tier framework and fully reopen the economy in a little over a month.
Tehama and Yuba counties, also in the red tier, recorded their first week toward orange-tier restrictions and could advance as early as next week if their rates hold.
The nine remaining red-tier counties — Sacramento, Placer, Del Norte, Merced, Nevada, San Joaquin, Shasta, Solano and Stanislaus — can move to orange no earlier than May 25, and will not be able to advance to the yellow tier before the planned June 15 end to the tier structure because counties must stay in a tier level at least three weeks before advancing.
Most of the state’s 58 counties are in the orange tier, which allows most businesses to be open with modifications including social distancing requirements and capacity limits. Nine counties, most notably Los Angeles and San Francisco, are now in the yellow tier, which allows for higher capacity limits than orange.
Red-tier counties are subject to tighter capacity limits than the orange tier, and a few types of businesses — mostly indoor, entertainment-based establishments — are ordered to remain closed.
No California county has been in the strictest tier, purple, since early April. Purple-tier restrictions kept restaurant dining rooms, gyms, movie theaters and several other establishments closed for indoor operations.
The four tiers also govern crowd sizes allowed at both indoor and outdoor venue events, such as sporting events and live performances.
California’s COVID-19 numbers still improving
Business reopenings come as California’s statewide COVID-19 activity has continued to decline in recent weeks.
CDPH on Monday and Tuesday reported the state’s test positivity rate at a flat 1% for the preceding week, yet another record low for the entire pandemic. The rate soared as high as 17% at the start of 2021 during the winter surge; prior to that, its lowest point had been 3%, recorded last October.
About 1,530 patients remain in hospitals with confirmed COVID-19 cases, down from nearly 22,000 at the height of the winter surge. The number in intensive care units was 353 as of Tuesday’s update, which is the lowest for the entire pandemic, according to the state.
CDPH reports about 24 residents per day were dying of the virus as of mid-April, the latest available period with up-to-date data. That’s the lowest rate since March 2020. The one-week average shot up to daily 670 fatalities in early January due to the surge.
To date, more than 61,200 Californians have died of COVID-19 among 3.66 million who have tested positive, according to CDPH.
Half of Californians now vaccinated
As of a Tuesday update by state health officials, 50% of California’s 39.5 million residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
More than 14.4 million are fully vaccinated, with another 5.3 million partially vaccinated with a single dose of the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna, according to CDPH.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that the Pfizer vaccine has been granted emergency use authorization in juveniles ages 12 through 15. That should clear the way in the coming days for Pfizer to be used in that age group in California, making roughly 2 million more adolescents eligible for the jabs.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 65% of California’s 18-and-older population is now at least partially vaccinated. That’s seven percentage points higher than the national average of 58%, and ranks 11th highest among the 50 states.
Sacramento area by the numbers
The six-county capital region of Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Yolo, Sutter and Yuba counties has reported more than 166,000 lab-confirmed cases and at least 2,434 virus deaths over the course of the pandemic.
Sacramento County has reported 104,610 cases and 1,678 resident deaths from COVID-19, last updated Monday. The county health office has added 12 confirmed virus fatalities since May 4.
The countywide hospitalized total has been on a slight decline, reported Tuesday at 86, down from 99 one week earlier. The ICU total, though, has risen from 17 to 23 in the past week.
Placer County health officials have confirmed a total of 22,610 infections and 291 deaths through Monday. Placer has reported two deaths in the past week.
State data on Tuesday showed 46 virus patients in Placer hospitals, up from 38 one week earlier, while the ICU count was seven each day.
Yolo County has reported 13,821 total cases and 207 deaths, with two deaths added in the past week.
Yolo had four virus patients hospitalized as of Tuesday’s state data update including one in an ICU, compared to five one week earlier, with none in intensive care either day.
El Dorado County has reported 10,141 positive test results and 112 deaths. El Dorado has increased its death toll by two in the past week.
State data on Tuesday showed El Dorado with one hospitalized patients, not in an ICU, after having two virus patients with one in an ICU one week earlier.
In Sutter County, at least 9,421 residents have tested positive for the virus and 105 have died, with no new deaths reported in the past week. Yuba County, which shares a health office with Sutter, has reported 6,253 infections and 41 dead, including one fatality in the past week.
Adventist-Rideout in Marysville — Yuba-Sutter bi-county region’s lone hospital — dropped to seven hospitalized virus patients as of Tuesday’s update, down from 14 one week earlier, while the ICU total has held at one.
This story was originally published May 11, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
