Fresno County keeps red-tier COVID-19 status. What’s that mean for restaurants, businesses?
Fresno County dodged a bullet Tuesday, managing to remain in the state’s second tier for economic reopening from the COVID-19 pandemic for a third straight week.
The California Department of Public Health kept Fresno County assigned to Tier 2 in its Blueprint for a Safer Economy, representing “substantial” risk for transmitting the coronavirus in the community. That means that businesses that were recently allowed to resume limited indoor operations, including restaurants, churches and fitness clubs, can continue to keep their doors open for customers without having to move back outdoors.
Fresno County’s adjusted case rate on Tuesday, for the seven-day period ending Oct. 6, was calculated by the state health department at 6.5 new cases per day per 100,000 residents. A second measure used by the state for its tier assignment is the percentage of people testing positive for the virus. On Tuesday, that number was reported at 5.1%, well within the criteria to remain in the red tier.
Fresno County’s health department had been on notice for a week about the potential to backslide into Purple Tier 1, the most restrictive level in the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
Tier 1 represents “widespread” risk of transmitting the virus, based on data that shows an average of seven or more new confirmed infections per day per 100,000 people over the course of a week, and a testing positivity rate of greater than 8%.
A week ago, the state Department of Public Health reported an adjusted case rate of 7.2 new infections per 100,000 residents – an uptick that, if not reversed by Tuesday, would trigger re-entry into the purple tier and force many businesses to take their operations back outside.
To remain outside the purple tier, a county must continue to meet the threshold for both the case rate and the testing positivity rate. Missing the mark on either of those measures for two consecutive weeks would force a county back into the more restrictive tier.
On brink of purple tier
As recently as Friday, Fresno County interim health officer Dr. Rais Vohra was not optimistic about staying in the red zone.
“I’m very concerned. We are right at that border,” he said. “Obviously we want to know what the truth is, and if we’re in the purple, we’re in the purple, and we really need to do what it takes to really reduce transmission and not just game the numbers.”
Falling back into the purple Tier 1, he acknowledged, would represent a significant setback for businesses that have been challenged for months by restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.
“It is just a fine balance. It almost feels like a tightrope we’re walking because we want the businesses to thrive,” Vohra told reporters.
“We want to get into the red and possibly the orange and stay that way. … But we need everyone to partner with us in order to make that happen and minimize the transmission of this illness,” he added. Vohra said that means people need to continue to practice social distancing and wear face masks when out in public, and wash hands frequently.
Before Fresno County can advance into Tier 3, color-coded orange for “moderate” risk of virus transmission, the rate of new daily cases must fall to fewer than four cases per 100,000 residents, and the testing positivity rate needs to fall below 5%.
The least restrictive tier in the state’s color-coded system is yellow Tier 4, denoting “minimal” risk of transmission. In the central San Joaquin Valley, only Mariposa County has met the requirements: fewer than one new case per day per 100,000 residents and a testing positivity of less than 2%.
Also on Tuesday, Kings County joined the ranks of counties that climbed out of the purple tier and into red, and Merced County remained assigned to red Tier 2 for a second consecutive week.
Madera County and Tulare County remain in purple Tier 1.
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 12:00 PM.
