Fresno, nearby Valley counties on track for red COVID reopening tier next week
After about four months mired in the most stringent level of California’s coronavirus business-reopening restrictions, Fresno County and two other Valley counties are poised to be promoted as soon as next week into red Tier 2 of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
For the first time since early November, Fresno County’s rate of new coronavirus cases has let up enough to advance out of purple Tier 1 of the state’s color-coded program. The state Department of Public Health reported Tuesday morning that there was an average of 9.6 new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 resident every day for the week ending March 13.
Anything fewer than 10 cases per day is enough to meet one of the key criteria for movement from purple Tier 1 into red Tier 2. If the case rate holds steady or improves, Fresno County – along with neighboring Madera and Kings counties – will be promoted into the red tier next week. Madera and Kings counties also met the new threshold for one week.
Purple Tier 1 denotes that there is “widespread” transmission of COVID-19 from person to person happening within the county. Red Tier 2 indicates that viral spread is “substantial.” A county must meet the new requirements for two consecutive weeks before advancing to the next tier.
Merced County saw improvement in its rate of new cases per 100,000 resident, but not enough to escape the purple tier yet.
When the move into the red tier becomes official, restaurants can reopen for indoor dining at up to 25% capacity, while gyms and fitness clubs can open indoors at up to 10% capacity. Museums and some other indoor activities can also reopen with capacity limits. Retailers can further open up from a 25% capacity limit under the purple tier to 50% capacity in the red tier.
Movie theaters can also reopen under red Tier 2, at up to 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is fewer.
As long as a county remains under purple Tier 1, however, restaurants are limited to take-out or outdoor service only, while gyms were allowed to operate outdoors. Throughout the Valley, however, some businesses had reopened indoors in defiance of the state’s blueprint rules.
Official new-case rates for Valley counties, reported Tuesday by state health officials for the week ending March 13, are:
- Fresno County: 9.6 daily new cases per 100,000 residents, down from 11.9 per 100,000 last week.
- Kings County: 9.8 per 100,000 residents, down from 11.0 per 100,000 last week.
- Madera County: 6.1 per 100,000 residents, down from 11.3 per 100,000 last week.
- Mariposa County: 2.4 per 100,000, up from 0.8 per 100,000 last week.
- Merced County: 12.9 per 100,000, down from 13.9 last week.
- Tulare County: 6.3 per 100,000, down from 7.8 last week.
Tulare County entered its second week officially in the red tier under Tuesday’s numbers. Mariposa County is the only Valley county to have moved beyond the red tier, entering its third week in orange Tier 3 representing “moderate” viral transmission in the county.
In addition to having a new-case rate of fewer than 10 per 100,000 population per day, counties must also have less than 8% of people tested for the coronavirus coming back with positive results for COVID-19 over the course of a week. The 8% red-tier cap also applies to a health equity metric for testing of people who live in the most socially and economically disadvantaged census tracts in a county.
Fresno, Madera, Kings and Merced counties already meet the testing-positivity and health-equity criteria.
The case-rate threshold was relaxed a couple of weeks ago, increasing from seven daily cases per 100,000 population to 10 cases, after California reached a goal of providing 2 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to residents in socially and economically distressed neighborhoods statewide.
Three California counties moved this week from the purple tier to red: Kern County, at the south end of the San Joaquin Valley; Stanislaus County, at the Valley’s north end; and Nevada County, in the Sierra Nevada range along the California-Nevada state line.
Lassen County moved from red into orange Tier 3, as did Marin, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Trinity and Yolo counties.
Statewide, nine counties remain in purple Tier 1, while 32 are now in red Tier 2. Nine more counties are in orange Tier 3.
Only two sparsely populated counties, Alpine and Sierra counties on the California-Nevada state line, are in yellow Tier 1, the least restrictive level representing “minimal” viral spread in the community.
The state Blueprint for a Safer Economy was introduced in late August, after months of on-again, off-again openings and closings of businesses and activities through the spring and summer as case rates fluctuated and then surged.
Fresno, Kings and Merced counties all started in the blueprint’s purple tier, and then spent several weeks in October and November in red tier 2 before a winter surge in new cases statewide sent them backsliding into the purple tier.
In early December, as hospitals across the state saw the number of beds available in intensive-care units dwindle, the entire San Joaquin Valley from San Joaquin through Kern counties was put under a regional stay-at-home order in which more businesses were closed and restaurants barred from offering outdoor dining and limited only to delivery or to-go orders.
The Sacramento region, as well as Southern California and the Bay Area, were also put under stay-at-home orders for weeks in December and January. The orders on all regions were lifted in late January.
This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 11:44 AM.
