Fresno County may need return to dining, health club closures as COVID-19 cases rebound
An increase in the average number of new coronavirus cases threatens to send Fresno County back into a more restrictive tier of economic reopening as businesses and residents adjust to resuming indoor operations under the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
Fresno County last week was promoted by the state Department of Public Health from purple Tier 1, the most restrictive level of color-coded tiers, into red Tier 2, based on the county’s improvement in both its rate of new cases per 100,000 residents and the percentage of people testing positive for the virus.
On Tuesday, Fresno County remained assigned to the red tier, under which restaurants can offer indoor dining at up to 25% capacity, churches can hold services inside at 25% capacity, and gyms and health clubs can operate at 10% of their indoor capacity.
But Fresno’s case rate rose to 7.2 cases per 100,000 residents, above the threshold of seven cases. Under the blueprint guidelines, if a county backslides on either of the two key metrics for two consecutive weeks, it could be reassigned back into the more restrictive tier.
Dr. Rais Vohra, Fresno County’s interim health officer, said Tuesday that the case rate was actually adjusted upward by the state because the county’s testing volume came in below the statewide average. In recent weeks, Fresno County’s testing had exceeded the state average.
Still, Vohra said he’s concerned about the numbers. “It looks like our case rate and positivity are both sliding upwards,” he said in a video briefing with reporters. “If this trend continues, we may be looking at going back into purple, which no one wants.”
Fresno County continues to meet the threshold for testing positivity rates, with 5.3% of tests coming back positive for the virus. The red-tier maximum is under 8%.
A return to the purple Tier 1 would mean clamping down once again on indoor dining, church services and fitness gym workouts, as well as indoor movie theaters and other indoor operations. Retailers, which under red Tier 1 have been allowed to operate at 50% capacity, would have to cut back to 25%
That would be tremendously disruptive to have to ask to close indoor operations again and we certainly don’t want to go in that direction,” Vohra said.
Vohra added that state officials have told counties that they would examine the data “and work with us to see if there’s anything that can be done before they move us back to purple.”
“But if it turns out that we’re in a bona fide purple tier, at that time they will give a three-day notice to implement any sector changes or closures,” he explained. If the slide continues, Vohra added, “next Tuesday we could get the announcement and then by Friday of next week we would be asking people to go back to the purple rules and take everything outdoors again.”
The state’s blueprint includes four color-coded tiers: purple Tier 1, representing “widespread” risk of transmitting the novel coronavirus within the community; red Tier 2, denoting “substantial” risk of spread; orange Tier 3, representing “moderate” risk; and yellow Tier 4, representing “minimal” risk.
Elsewhere in the Valley, Merced County won approval from the state Tuesday to move from purple Tier 1 into red Tier 2.
Mariposa County has already spent two weeks in the least restrictive yellow Tier 4. Kings, Madera and Tulare counties remain in the purple Tier 1 as of Tuesday, but Kings County’s case rates and positivity percentages both fell within the ranges for orange Tier 3. But because counties cannot skip tiers, Kings County could be promoted to red Tier 2 if it maintains its trends.
Merced County was one of seven California counties to advance to less-restrictive tiers for economic reopening on Tuesday. But two counties, Shasta and Tehama, were moved back a step because of their metrics – the first two counties to experience that fate since the blueprint model was established at the end of August.
Shasta County reverted from orange Tier 3 into red Tier 2, while Tehama County moved from red Tier 2 back into purple Tier 1.
This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 3:16 PM.
