Tag Archives: Red Tier

Solano is only Bay Area county remaining in red tier

Newsom shares date for state’s full reopening; three Bay Area counties move to orange tier

Napa County is among three counties expected to reach the orange tier effective Wednesday, enabling wineries and distilleries to host customers indoors without serving meals.
San Francisco Business Times, By Alex Barreira, Apr 6, 2021

After 31 weeks, an end to the tier system is in sight: Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that the state plans to remove most of coronavirus restrictions on June 15 if vaccinations remain widely available and hospitalization of Covid-19 patients remains low.

At that point California would allow restaurants, bars, stores, movie theaters, museums and practically all other businesses statewide to resume operations without capacity limits both indoors and outside, state Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly told officials on Tuesday morning. Not everything would return to normal immediately — after June 15 California’s mask mandate will remain in place for the foreseeable future, officials said.

“We’re seeing bright light at the end of the tunnel,” Newsom said at the press conference, cautioning that the state will move “soberly and thoughtfully, guided by the data” to the next stage. “Everything being equal on June 15, we’ll be opening up business as usual.”

“The entire state will move into this phase as a whole. This will not be county-by-county,” Ghaly said in a briefing call with reporters Tuesday, reports the Los Angeles Times.

It’s unclear yet how much power local counties will have at their discretion to impose effective modifications to the “full reopening,” such as caps on capacity at event sizes, as San Francisco in particular has used to enforce a more conservative approach to reopening throughout the pandemic.

Newsom also shared that the state has reached its goal of administering 4 million vaccines to residents of low-income-designated areas throughout the state, activating looser criteria for counties to advance to the next tier.

On top of that news, the state included three Bay Area counties — Napa, Sonoma and Contra Costa — among the 16 across the state moving into less restrictive tiers. In the case of those Bay Area counties, they’re moving from the red “substantial” tier to the orange “moderate” tier, opening nonessential offices, indoor bars, and host limited live entertainment events, among other activities, effective Wednesday.

Solano County is the only county in the Bay Area still on the red tier.  Eight of nine Bay Area counties have now reached the orange tier.

If their case numbers continue to improve, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties would be on pace to become eligible for the yellow tier next week.

Here’s what the orange tier counties can expect under the new tier changes, which would become effective Wednesday morning:

  • Bars that don’t serve food can reopen, but can only seat patrons outdoors. Wineries, distilleries and breweries that don’t serve meals can resume hosting customers indoors.
  • Restaurants and movie theaters can increase their indoor capacity to 50% or 200 people, whichever is fewer. Previously, both establishments were limited to 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever was fewer.
  • Retail stores can open to full indoor capacity as long as social distancing is enforced, up from 50% capacity previously.
  • Indoor gyms can expand from 10% to 25% capacity.
  • Museums and places of worship can move from 25% to 50% indoor capacity.
  • Nonessential offices can reopen, but the state is still encouraging remote work.
  • Amusement parks can open outdoors to 25% capacity for counties in the orange zone, or a maximum 500 people, but only in-state visitors are allowed and tickets must be purchased in advance.

On Friday state officials also loosened restrictions on holding indoor events such as conferences and performances for the first time since early 2020. They introduced a sliding scale for the number of visitors that can attend, and venues can increase capacity if visitors are vaccinated or have recent negative tests for coronavirus.

On the orange tier, indoor venues can host up to 15% capacity, and 35% if guests are vaccinated. For events with over 1,500 people, the orange tier allows 10% capacity and 35% if guests are vaccinated.

COVID spread in Solano County: 100 new cases and 6 new deaths – STAY SAFE!


By Roger Straw, Monday, April 5, 2021

100 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend and 6 new deaths!  Ages 18-49 most likely to catch the virus.

Solano County reported 100 new COVID cases over the weekend, adding to 61 last Friday and 51 on Thursday.  Solano reported a total of 292 new cases last week, averaging 42 per day, edging us back toward the State’s purple tier.  The County also reported 6 new COVID-related deaths over the weekend!

Case rates by age group

Note that those of us age 18-49 are most likely to catch the virus.  The chart shows the rate of cases in Solano County (per 100,000 population, as of today).

>> The virus is still on the move here.  Stay safe, get vaccinated, wear a mask and social distance!

FOR THE RECORD: Screenshots from Solano County COVID Dashboard on Monday, April 5:COMPARE: Screenshots from Solano County COVID Dashboard on Friday, April 2:

The screenshots above are from today’s and last Friday’s Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated weekdays around 4pm.  On the County’s dashboard, you can hover a mouse or click on an item for more information.  Note the tabs at top for SummaryDemographics and Vaccines.  Click here to go to today’s Solano County Dashboard.

Sources

SFGATE: Solano County could be bumped back to purple tier

This Bay Area county could be bumped back to the purple tier

SFGATE, by Amy Graff, April 2, 2021
@kurteek found twin bridges by Carquinez Bridge.
@kurteek found twin bridges by Carquinez Bridge. Instagram / kurteek

Public health officials in Solano County are concerned about increasing COVID-19 cases and are warning that the county could move back from the red tier to the most restrictive purple tier, forcing many businesses to close indoor operations.

“Too early to call it a surge now but that doesn’t mean it’s not the beginning of a surge only time will tell,” Bela Matyas, the county’s health officer told KRON. ““We are now starting to get uncomfortably close to the level of the disease reported each day that would put us back in purple.”

More than half of the Bay Area counties — including Alameda, Marin, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo — have already moved out of the red tier into the orange tier.  Solano County has been in the red for three weeks.

“No, we’re not moving into orange this week,” Solano County Public Health Administrator Jayleen Richards told the Vallejo Times Herald. “Last week we started to see some data not trending upwards. We could actually go from the red tier back to purple if we don’t start following all the guidelines. We’re not there yet, but I’m worried about the slight increase of positive cases.”

If Solano were to fall back into the purple tier, restaurants, gyms, movie theaters, and places of worship would no longer be able to host people indoors. Personal services and retail would be allowed to continue operating indoors.

With the Easter holiday weekend ahead, Maytas encouraged residents to wear their masks and socially distance.

Matyas told KCBS Radio that the bulk of new cases in the county are appearing in younger people who aren’t eligible for the vaccine.

Solano County opened up eligibility to individuals 50 and over last month ahead of the state guidelines. California broadened eligibility to those 50 and over on April 1 and will expand to 16 and over on April 15.

The state’s COVID dashboard showed Friday morning that Solano’s adjusted case rate was 5.4 new cases per 100,000 people, the 7-day positivity rate was 1.9% and the health equity quartile was 2.3%.

The county’s dashboard showed different numbers with the 7-day positivity rate at 6.6%.

“We’re doing really well in the equity rate measure, but we’re not quite there in other categories,” Richards told the Times Herald. “I want to have businesses reopen and be operating just as much as anyone, but we must keep doing things like masking and keeping a safe distance apart to to keep the elderly and vulnerable healthy.”

The state’s color-coded reopening framework assigns a tier to each county, dictating which business sectors and activities can operate. The state announces new tier assignments on Tuesday, and on Wednesday counties can move forward with reopenings.

The state’s system sorts counties into four tiers — “purple” (widespread), “red” (substantial), “orange” (moderate) or “yellow” (minimal) — that measure the spread of COVID-19 and dictate what types of businesses and activities are allowed to open.

A county’s tier assignment is based on three metrics: the adjusted case rate (number of new cases per 100,000 residents, adjusted based on testing volume); the positivity rate (percentage of people who test positive for the virus of all individuals who are tested); a health equity metric; and the number of vaccines administered.

Counties in the purple category are reporting more than 10 new daily cases per 100,000 residents and have positivity rates above 8%. For a county to move into the red tier, it must report an average of four to 10 daily cases per 100,000 residents and a test positivity of 5% to 8% for 14 consecutive days. The orange tier requires one to 3.9 cases per 100,000 and a test positivity of 2% to 4.9%, and the yellow less than one case per 100,000 and lower than 2% positivity.

Solano County didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.

Solano continues sharp uptick in COVID cases, especially among those age 18-49


By Roger Straw. Friday, April 2, 2021

61 new COVID-19 cases overnight!  Ages 18-49 most likely to catch the virus.

The County reported 61 new positive COVID cases overnight among our neighbors today, adding to yesterday’s 51 new cases.  Solano has reported a total of 292 new cases this week, averaging 42 per day, edging us back toward the State’s purple tier.  Active cases numbered 332 today, increasing every day since March 24.

Case rates by age group

Note that those of us age 18-49 are most likely to catch the virus.  The chart shows the rate of cases in Solano County (per 100,000 population, as of today).

>> The virus is still on the move here.  Stay safe, get vaccinated, wear a mask and social distance!

FOR THE RECORD: Screenshots from Solano County COVID Dashboard on Friday, April 2:COMPARE: Screenshots from Solano County COVID Dashboard on Thursday, April 1:

The screenshots above are from today’s and yesterday’s Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated weekdays around 4pm.  On the County’s dashboard, you can hover a mouse or click on an item for more information.  Note the tabs at top for SummaryDemographics and Vaccines.  Click here to go to today’s Solano County Dashboard.

Sources