10 Straggling California Counties Get Green Light Into Red Tier

CALIFORNIA — Another 10 counties were able to break free from the state's toughest coronavirus restrictions Tuesday, according to California officials. In stark contrast to a doom-and-gloom winter coronavirus surge, California is moving into spring with significantly lower case rates and a positivity rate below 2 percent.

The state is rapidly lifting its virus restrictions. In just a matter of days, the state's color-coded reopening map turned from mostly purple to mostly red as at least 23 counties advanced into lower tiers.

The following counties moved into the red tier on Tuesday: Sacramento, San Diego, Lake, Monterey, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare and Ventura.

San Mateo County on Tuesday also became the first Bay Area County to move into the orange "moderate" tier since last fall. The tier allows businesses to increase their indoor capacity, and indoor pools can reopen, as can bowling alleys and card rooms. Music and sports venues can also open to outdoor audiences at 20 percent capacity.

California allows counties in the red tier to reopen in the following sectors, with safety modifications.

• Shopping centers (50 percent capacity, closed common areas and reduced-capacity food courts).
• Indoor dining (25 percent capacity).
• Fitness centers (10 percent capacity).
• Places of worship (25 percent capacity or 100 people, whichever is lower).
• Nail salons.
• Massage facilities.
• Museums (25 percent capacity).
• Zoos (25 percent capacity).
• Aquariums (25 percent capacity).
• Movie theaters (25 percent capacity or 100 people, whichever is lower).

Just 11 counties remain in the purple tier — all of them inland. Four counties were now in the moderate tier, and just one was in the yellow tier.

As the state quickens its reopening pace, more businesses and indoor pastimes are returning to the state's 58 counties. Movie theaters were allowed to reopen in most counties this week, some of which have been dark for a year.

In Los Angeles — which has been dubbed the state's coronavirus epicenter — AMC reopened two if its flagship theaters in Burbank and Century City on Monday afternoon. And last week, the state lifted restrictions on breweries, distilleries and wineries to reopen without serving food. But even as some flock back to their favorite theaters and eateries, others are hesitant.

But a staggering 50 percent of Californians said they were not ready to return to eat outdoors at a restaurant, according to a poll released Monday by Emerson College and Nexstar. Another 44 percent said they would. Just 7 percent said they were unsure.

Some 46 percent said they would not attend a sporting event, while 43 percent said they would. But those 50 and older said they were more likely to eat indoors and attend a sporting event.

California picked up the pace of its reopening after it hit a significant vaccine equity milestone last Friday: 2 million doses of vaccine were administered in some 400 Golden State ZIP codes with vulnerable populations, as identified by the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week that the state would relax the requirements to exit the restrictive tiers if that metric was met.

Before this week, counties could move from the purple tier to the lower red tier based on metrics that included the number of new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people per day over a period of several weeks. The threshold for entering the red tier has moved from seven to 10 cases per 100,000 residents.

"Focusing on the individuals who have been hardest hit by this pandemic is the right thing to do and also ensures we are having the greatest impact in reducing transmission," Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state's health secretary, said last week.

The state also reported a 1.8 percent positivity rate over a seven-day period, Newsom said on Tuesday.

As some counties began the process of reopening this week, the state also widened its vaccine eligibility pool to some 4.4 million Californians. Transit workers and those 15 to 64 with disabilities and certain health conditions became eligible to receive vaccines Monday as the state faced a scarce vaccine supply.

"Yesterday we set a new record — administering nearly half a million vaccines in 24 hours," Newsom tweeted Tuesday. More than 400,000 teachers and school staff have also been vaccinated, and some 12.6 million shots have been given statewide, the governor added.

But the state's rollout could run into a wall this week. The 4.4 million more Californians entering the eligibility pool may be hard-pressed to find an appointment this week as the state expects to receive just 1.7 million doses this week — including only 44,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health told Patch.

"The federal government has not provided projections on Johnson & Johnson beyond this week," the spokesperson said under condition of anonymity.

Previously, Newsom projected that the state would be getting around 320,000 J&J doses per week for the next several weeks. While there is no immediate answer as to when exactly the supply crisis will end, officials still pointed to April even as that deadline nears rapidly.

President Joe Biden last week announced a plan to expand access to coronavirus vaccines to all adults by May 1.

"With President Biden's announcement, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. We share the president's commitment to ensuring all adults who want a vaccine can get one," Newsom said last week.

Even as clinics across the state receive a variety of vaccine products, Newsom urged Californians on Tuesday not to be concerned with choosing among Pfizer, Moderna or the scarce J&J single-dose shots. "The best vaccine is the next one available," Newsom told reporters, according to Politico reporter Jeremy B. White.

The governor spoke Tuesday from Ruby Bridges Elementary School in Alameda, where he announced that 9,000 schools in California had reopened.

California Coronavirus Data As Of Tuesday

• California reported 3,530,055 cases.
• There were 1,260 newly recorded cases Tuesday.
• The seven-day positivity rate is 1.8 percent.
• There have been 50,889,509 tests conducted in California.
• There have been 55,372 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
• There were 42 newly reported coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday.
• More than 12 million vaccine doses have been administered statewide.
• 16,686,580 doses have been delivered to entities within California, according to the CDC.
• There have been 51,351,366 tests conducted in California. This represents an increase of 167,229 during the prior 24-hour reporting period.