Coronavirus update: Did a California university just turn into a Spring Break hot spot?
UC Davis, which is nearing the end of its fourth consecutive quarter of all or mostly all remote classes, is taking a cautious approach to its Spring Break and offering 750 grants to its students to be used for “staycations” in town as an incentive to avoid nonessential travel.
The $75 grants can be used to make purchases at a number of select businesses in four categories: Get Active, Get Artsy, Home Improvement or Let’s Stay In. To qualify, students must be living in Davis, agree not to travel during spring break and have scheduled a coronavirus test during the break.
The grants, worth more than $56,000, also will boost local businesses in Davis and Yolo County, which is in the Red Tier in the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
So, it’s Davis, and not … a more traditional Spring Break location that might include a beach. No Daytona Beach. No South Padre Island. No Cabo or Cancun.
There are more than just the 75 reasons for UC Davis students to remain in Yolo County for Spring Break.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends delaying domestic and international travel, even for those who have been fully vaccinated. And, if traveling, the CDC has requirements and recommendations that include wearing masks when on airplanes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States.
All air passengers coming to the United States also are required to have a negative COVID-19 test result or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 before they board a flight to the United States.
There also is the U.K. variant, which is believed to be highly contagious. The majority of the U.S. cases are in Florida – 689 of 3,283, more than 20%, according to the latest update from the CDC.
How close are Valley counties to moving out of Purple Tier?
The COVID-19 test positivity rate in Fresno County is down for a fourth week in a row. The health equity metric is down for a second week in a row. Both are at levels that would allow the county to move out of the Purple and most restrictive tier in California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
But the county is not close when it comes to the third metric, the number of new positive coronavirus cases per day per 100,000 population. It is down, and down substantially from the peak of a winter surge in the middle January, when there were 76 new cases per 100,000.
But Fresno County is at 12.6, and needs to get to 7.0. Even with the state set to ease those tier guidelines once it has vaccinated 2 million in disadvantaged communities, allowing 10.0 new cases per day per 100,000 population to move to the Red Tier from the Purple Tier, the county is not that close considering the 7-day average for new cases is 141, according to the latest data from the California Department of Public Health.
Where do other San Joaquin Valley counties stand with the three metrics?
To move to a less restrictive pier, a county must have a 7-day test positivity rate of 8% or less, a test positivity rate of 8% or less among residents who live in neighborhoods that fall in the bottom 25% of the state’s Healthy Places Index and a number of daily cases per 100,000 of 7 or less, and it must meet all three requirements for two consecutive weeks.
Fresno County
Test positivity: 5.3%
Health equity: 6.8%
New cases per 100,000: 12.6
Kings County
Test positivity: 4.4%
Health equity: 3.3%
New cases per 100,000: 11.9
Madera County
Test positivity: 4.1%
Health equity: 7.3%
New cases per 100,000: 11.4
Merced County
Test positivity: 5.4%
Health equity: 5.4%
New cases per 100,000: 14.8
Tulare County
Test positivity: 4.4%
Health equity: 5.9%
New cases per 100,000: 9.5
Mariposa County is two tiers ahead of the other counties in the Valley and on Tuesday moved to the Orange Tier from the Red Tier. Among the 58 counties in the state, there are 34 in the Purple (widespread) Tier, 20 in the Red (substantial) Tier, three are in the Orange (moderate) Tier and one is in the Yellow (minimal) Tier.
Other Valley counties also are struggling with the number of new cases per day per 100,000 population. Stanislaus County is at 13.6, Kern County is at 11.8 and San Joaquin County is at 11.2.
The latest updates on new cases, deaths in Valley
Fresno County public health officials reported 116 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, as it remained in the Purple and most restrictive tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
The new cases were found in 3,008 tests, a positivity rate of just 3.9%.
The total number of coronavirus cases in Fresno County since the start of the pandemic is now 96,665. There also were four new deaths in the county, that total now 1,509. The number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals was down by three to 159, and the number in ICUs was down six to 40.
The CDPH updates for other central San Joaquin Valley counties:
Kings County
- 27 new cases; 22,130 total
- 2 new deaths; 229 total
Madera County
- 18 new cases; 15,632 total
- 8 new deaths; 222 total
Mariposa County
- 1 new case; 396 total
- 0 new deaths; 7 total
Merced County
- 43 new cases; 26,600 total
- 1 new death; 416 total
Tulare County
- 80 new cases; 48,399 total
- 3 new deaths; 776 total
In California, there were 2,614 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on Tuesday by the California Department of Public Health, and a total of 3,507,266 since the start of the pandemic.
The 7-day and 14-day test positivity rates remain 2.1% and 2.2%.
There also were 171 new deaths in the state, the total now 54,395.
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 7:49 AM.