Fresno, Kings counties moved to orange tier of COVID reopening
Fresno and Kings counties took another step toward reopening more businesses and expanding operations at others on Tuesday, each earning a place in a less restrictive tier of the state’s coronavirus reopening program.
The counties in the central San Joaquin Valley advanced from red Tier 2 of the color-coded Blueprint for a Safer Economy into orange Tier 3. Tier 2 indicates “substantial” spread of COVID-19 among residents in a county, while Tier 3 represents “moderate” transmission of the virus.
The California Department of Public Health announced the tier assignments Tuesday morning.
Under Tier 3, businesses that have previously been allowed to open for indoor operations in the red tier can further expand to use more of their indoor capacity. Examples include restaurants can increase service in their dining rooms to 50% of capacity or 200 people, whichever is fewer. Movie theaters also can boost their seating from 25% under red-tier restrictions to 50% or 200 people, whichever is fewer.
Museums also are able to expand their indoor attractions to 50% of capacity. Retailers that have faced a 50% capacity cap under red Tier 2 now have no capacity limits under orange Tier 3. But the same operational modifications that apply to all tiers and business sectors – including requirements for staff and customers to wear face masks and other safety precautions including physical distancing – continue to apply.
Fresno and Kings counties join Tulare and Mariposa counties in the orange tier. Madera and Merced counties remain in red Tier 2 of the state’s framework.
The tier assignments are based on two key measures: the number of new cases that arise each day over the course of a week and calculated as a rate per 100,000 residents, and the percentage of residents tested over the course of a week whose results come back positive for COVID-19. Tuesday’s tier assignments were based on cases and tests for the week ending April 10.
A county must be in one tier for three weeks before it can be promoted to a less-restrictive tier, including meeting the standards of the new tier for two straight weeks. Fresno County completed its third week in red Tier 2 on Tuesday, and was ahead of the orange-tier standards to be eligible for promotion.
State data shows that Fresno County had 391 new confirmed coronavirus cases that arose during the week of April 4-10. That amounted to a rate of 5.3 new cases per day for every 100,000 residents – well below the orange-tier ceiling of 5.9 cases. The county also posted a testing positivity rate of 2.9%, also below the cap of 4.9% to get into the orange tier.
In Kings County, there were 28 new cases, amounting to an adjusted rate of 2.1 new cases each day per 100,000 residents. Fewer than 1% of people who took coronavirus tests had results that came back positive for the virus.
Madera County had appeared poised to move into the orange tier this week, but upticks in both the new-case rate and testing positivity meant the county missed the marks to advance. New daily cases per 100,000 climbed from 5.7 last week to 8.7 in Tuesday’s announcement, while the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus rose from 2.5% last week to 4.4% this week.
In Merced County, which last week was promoted from purple Tier 1 denoting “widespread” transmission of the virus into red Tier 2, maintained its status with improvements to the new-case rate, at 8.0 per 100,000 residents, and testing positivity at 3.6%.
Tulare County is entering its second week in the orange tier, with a daily new case rate of 2.9 per 100,000 residents and a testing positivity rate of 1.5%.
California now has no counties remaining in purple Tier 1, the most restrictive level of the statewide blueprint. In addition to Madera and Merced counties, there are 15 counties now in red Tier 2. Fresno, Kings, Mariposa and Tulare are among 38 counties in orange Tier 3.
Only three counties – sparsely populated and rural Alpine, Lassen and Sierra counties – have made it into yellow Tier 4, the least restrictive tier of the blueprint denoting “minimal” spread of the virus in the community.
The blueprint and its county-by-county program of color-coded tiers was introduced last August as state officials established systematic, risk-based approach to guide businesses in reopening from sweeping measures put in place last spring to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to fully reopen California’s economy and doing away with the tier system by mid-June – if the state has enough vaccines to give coronavirus shots to anyone age 16 and older who wants one, and if hospitalization rates of COVID-19 cases are low and stable.
If those conditions hold, businesses and social activities in all counties would be able to resume at pre-pandemic levels on June 15, but with continued safety measures including face masks and, in some circumstances, verification of COVID-19 vaccination or negative tests.
Tuesday COVID-19 update
Eighty-one new confirmed coronavirus cases were reported Tuesday in Fresno County, as well as two additional deaths. Over the past 13 months, the total number of residents infected at some point with COVID-19 has reached 100,702, and 1,646 deaths have been blamed on the virus.
Since the first vaccines became available in mid-December, nearly 570,000 shots have been given to residents in Fresno County, and more than 234,000 people – about 22.7% of the county’s population – are now fully vaccinated, either with two doses of the two-shot Moderna or Pfizer vaccines or one shot of the single-dose Janssen/Johnson & Johson vaccine.
Elsewhere in the Valley, Tuesday’s case updates include:
Kings County: Four new cases, 22,781 to date; no additional deaths, 245 to date. More than 7,200 of the confirmed cases, and 18 fatalities, have been among inmates at state prisons in Avenal and Corcoran. About 14.9% of the county’s residents, or 23,388 people, are fully vaccinated.
Madera County: 15 new cases, 16,205 to date; one additional death over the past week, 240 to date. So far, 32,901 people are fully vaccinated, or about 20.6% of the population.
Mariposa County: Two new cases, 428 to date; no additional deaths, seven to date. About 12.2% of the county’s population, or 2,165 residents, are fully vaccinated.
Merced County: 22 new cases, 31,289 to date; one additional death, 453 to date. The number of people fully vaccinated is 49,969, or about 17.4% of the population.
Tulare County: 29 new cases, 49,443 to date; no additional deaths, 831 to date. About 20.5% of the county’s population, or 99,380 people, are fully vaccinated.
This story was originally published April 20, 2021 at 10:34 AM.
