What Changes At Orange Tier Reopening: Wineries, Bars, Bowling

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Tuesday night, the California Department of Public Health said the target date for Orange County to reach the orange tier would be March 31, Orange County CEO Frank Kim said. There had been some confusion about whether the county could move up a tier by March 31 or April 7.

Moving up to the orange tier would allow for more business to reopen and expanded capacity in retail stores, restaurants and other indoor establishments. What changes in the Orange Tier?

• More shoppers inside retail stores: Shoppers at retail stores can enter at their leisure.
• Expanded attendance: Churches, movie theaters, museums, zoos and aquariums can expand attendance to 50% of capacity.
• More tables indoor at restaurants: Restaurants can expand indoor dining to 50%
• Wineries and Bars reopen inside: Wineries could offer indoor service at 25%, and bars that don't serve food could reopen outdoors for the first time.
• Gyms and fitness centers: Inside gyms and fitness centers can expand reopening to 25% of capacity.
• Indoor family entertainment centers could offer indoor attractions such as bowling.

Read: Disneyland Resort Reopens April 30 After Over 1 Year Of Shutdown

The latest weekly update from the state, issued on Tuesdays, showed the county's test positivity rate improved from 2.2% to 2.1%, and the adjusted case rate per 100,000 people on a seven-day average with a seven-day lag improved from 4 to 3.5.

The county's Health Equity Quartile rate, which measures positivity in hotspots in disadvantaged communities, improved from 3.5% last week to 3.2%.

The proof of improvement is in the numbers, according to officials.

On Thursday, Orange County's case rate per 100,000 people was 3.5, up slightly from the day before, as was the test positivity rate at 2.1%. Wednesday's positivity rate of 1.9 percent would qualify for the least restrictive yellow tier for the first time, Kim said. The county's positivity rate in the health equity category was at 3.2%.

The county reported 97 new COVID-19 cases, as hospitalizations decreased to 167, with the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care dropping by four to 35, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

It has been since late October that overall hospitalizations were this low.

This is the first time since late May that ICU numbers dropped to 36 or lower patients, according to the county's website statistics.

Still catching up with the number of those who lost their lives due to coronavirus, 11 more COVID-19 related deaths were reported Wednesday, with some dating back to December. In Orange County, a total of 4,665 have died due to the disease since the pandemic began.

Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett said it's possible the county could move up to the orange tier sooner if the state relaxes its standard by meeting its goal of 4 million people inoculated in its health equity category statewide.

Bartlett says the county's allocation of vaccines will increase next week to 60,470. She has encouraged residents to continue with all of the health protocols such as wearing a face covering and social distancing as public health experts have sounded the alarms about a potential surge fueled by variants.

"We could be potentially getting a surge of COVID due to the variants, so that's something we have to stay on top of," Bartlett said.

Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the OCHCA and the county's chief health officer, said the state has inoculated about 2.8 million people in the health equity category. The county estimates that 90% of its seniors have been inoculated, Chau said.

Chau told the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that there have been over 1.198 million shots distributed in Orange County, which means over 430,200 people have been fully inoculated.

About 22,000 have received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, he said. About 335,000 have received at least the first of two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, Chau said. Studies show that those vaccines are 94% successful at preventing infection with a booster shot and about 85% effective without the booster shot, Chau said.

With a booster shot, the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines provide protection against infection for about 18 months, Chau said. It takes two weeks after receiving a shot for the recipient to be fully protected, he added.

County officials will offer more evening hours at the Santa Ana College vaccine distribution site to accommodate food industry workers who have less regular hours, Chau said.

Bartlett said the vaccines are a likely reason coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are falling.
"Every county is improving and I think it has to do with the number of people vaccinated and we're building herd immunity," Bartlett said. "We're doing vastly better this month than we did last month."

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig