13 California Counties May Open Up Even More, State Says

CALIFORNIA — California's coronavirus transmission rates remain low, and the state was able to allow 13 counties to move into less restrictive reopening tiers Tuesday. Almost 50 percent of Californians are now living under the orange tier as the state rapidly reopens.

Only three counties remain under the state's most restrictive purple tier, a level that most California counties were under just over a month ago. Fresno, Glenn, Kings, Madera and Yuba counties moved out of purple and into red tiers Tuesday.

The following counties were able to move into the orange tier: Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Los Angeles, Modoc, Orange, Santa Cruz and Tuolumne.

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

• Hair salons, barbershops, personal care services (open indoors with modifications).
• Indoor dining (50 percent maximum capacity indoors or 200 people, whichever is lower).
• Indoor shopping centers (no common areas, reduced capacity food courts).
• Worship houses (50 percent maximum capacity indoors).
• Fitness centers (25 percent maximum capacity indoors).
• Indoor pools, climbing walls.
• Movie theaters (50 percent maximum capacity indoors or 200 people, whichever is lower).
• Museums, zoos, aquariums (50 percent maximum capacity indoors).
• Wineries, breweries, distilleries (must serve a maximum 25 percent capacity indoors or 100 people, whichever is lower).
• Bars without food (outdoors only).
• Family entertainment centers (bowling alleys OK; can open indoors at maximum 25 percent capacity for distanced activities).
• Gatherings: Indoors strongly discouraged but allowed with masks and social distancing and a maximum of three households.

Just two counties, Alpine and Sierra, remain in the state's least restrictive yellow tier. Officials have yet to provide guidance on the possibility of a "green tier," which Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state was working on in mid-March.

No counties moved backward on California's color-coded reopening map on Tuesday, and the state reported a seven-day 1.6 percent positivity rate — a new low for the Golden State.

California has been able to keep transmission rates low for several consecutive weeks, and the state is loosening restrictions all over with no signs of slowing down. The state last week released new guidance on reopening theme parks, resuming outdoor live events and planning graduation ceremonies.

But evidence of another surge is looming across the United States, and federal officials expressed deep concern Monday.

The seven-day average of daily new cases across the country was just shy of 60,000, a 10 percent increase compared to the previous week, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a White House news conference Monday.

"We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are, and so much reason for hope, but right now I’m scared," Walensky said.

President Joe Biden also urged states to pause reopening plans and pleaded with some states to reinstate mask mandates — perhaps his most direct call on governors to roll back loosening restrictions.

"This is not a time to lessen our efforts," Biden said Monday. "We could still see a setback in the vaccination program. And most importantly, if we let our guard down now, we could see a virus getting worse, not better."

Some experts in California also expressed concern at how quickly the Golden State was reopening.

Dr. Kimberly Shriner, an infectious disease specialist in Pasadena, told Patch earlier this month that the next two months would be critical in terms of vaccinating Californians.

"The next two months in the United States will dictate what's going to happen," Shriner said. "There's been a leveling off in the number of cases at a very high level, much higher than it was in the summer. That is a perfect scenario for another surge to happen."

Spring break has also presented another opportunity for people to gather, Shriner said. "We know young people are very effective spreaders," she said.

Public health officials all over the Golden State are also pleading with residents not to drop their guard as holidays such as Easter and Passover approach.

"I know it’s been very lonely for a lot of folks. It’s been hard," Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, a professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, told the Los Angeles Times. "So there’s a real temptation to bust loose just for one night because 'it doesn’t matter.' Well, it does matter."

The number of vaccinations inches up every day, but only about 17 million have received at least one shot of vaccine out of nearly 40 million people living in California.

The state also faces a dire dosage supply crisis even as the eligibility pool expands to millions more residents over 50 on Thursday.

The Golden State expects to receive the same weekly number of doses that it has for the past month — about 1.8 million. And supplies will slightly bump up to 1.9 million the following week, a spokesperson for the state's Department of Public Health told Patch.

That allotment won't be enough for everyone who becomes eligible in the next two weeks, but officials predict that the vaccine crisis will finally end this spring.

The state expected to get around 2.5 million first and second doses per week in the first half of April and more than 3 million doses in the second half of the month, the state said last week. The state is also working to build out the capacity to administer 4 million vaccines weekly by the end of April.

California Coronavirus Data As Of Tuesday

• 3,566,464 confirmed cases to date. Numbers may not represent true day-over-day change as reporting of test results can be delayed.

• 1,996 new cases reported Monday.

• 1.6 percent is the seven-day positivity rate.

• 53,684,932 tests have been conducted in California. This represents an increase of 174,999 during the prior 24-hour reporting period.

• 57,788 COVID-19 deaths have been recorded since the start of the pandemic.

• 17,649,015 vaccine doses have been administered statewide.

READ MORE: CA Gears Up For Vaccine Eligibility Expansion Amid Supply Crisis