Orange County On Track For Yellow Tier Reopenings This Week

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Orange County reported 52 new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death over the weekend. Numbers released Sunday by the Orange County Health Care Agency show 82 coronavirus patients in county hospitals, rising two from Saturday. Still, the number of those patients in intensive care decreased from 25 to 23.

The county had 34 percent of its ICU beds and 75 percent of its ventilators available.

Sunday's numbers brought the county's totals to 254,744 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began and 5,031 total fatalities since the pandemic began.

As of Sunday, the county logged another 7,227 tests for a total of 3,803,939 since March of 2020.

Orange County continues to be on track to make it to the least- restrictive yellow tier of the state's economic reopening system if current trends hold up, Orange County CEO Frank Kim said late last week. OC could become eligible to move up as soon as Wednesday.

Over the weekend, the county began administering the Pfizer vaccine to residents 12 to 15, according to Kim.

The good news accompanies an announcement from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Thursday that vaccinated Americans can ditch their face-covering in most cases.

Kim, however, said it does not apply yet in California.

"We're still bound by Cal OSHA," Kim told City News Service. "In the CDC guidance, it does say more restrictive requirements are to be followed. And in California Cal, OSHA still indicates you must wear a mask in places of work."

County officials are anticipating the state will issue new guidance later this month, Kim said. According to Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, California "can put in something more restrictive" than the federal government.

Based on Gov. Gavin Newsom's comments on the topic last week, the state is expected to continue to require face coverings for "large-scale events and activities," Bartlett said.

According to the weekly state data released every Tuesday, the average for the county's daily case rate per 100,000 people improved from 2.4 last Tuesday to 1.8 last week.

The overall test positivity rate improved from 1.3% to 1%, and the county's Health Equity Quartile rate, which measures positivity in hot spots in disadvantaged communities, declined from 1.4% to 1.2%.

Graduating to the yellow tier would allow for greater attendance for many businesses such as:

• Movie theaters
• Gyms
• Museums, zoos, and aquariums can open up at 100% of capacity
• Churches can reopen at 50 percent capacity (highly recommended, not mandated)
• Concert venues can reopen with restrictions
• Bars and distilleries can open indoors
• Amusement parks can extend max capacity to 35%– Indoor spaces max 25% capacity– and remain open for In-state visitors.

Stay tuned for more information Tuesday.