San Diego County To Move Into State's Yellow Tier

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA — San Diego County will move into California's least restrictive "yellow tier" Wednesday morning, following two consecutive weeks of an adjusted new daily COVID-19 case rate of fewer than two cases per 100,000 residents, county officials announced Tuesday.

The county will move into the yellow tier just six days before the state scraps the tiered reopening blueprint on June 15, joining other urban counties such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Orange.

In the yellow tier, outdoor music venues can increase to 67% capacity, restaurants and gyms can be at 50% capacity — indoor and outdoor — indoor bars can be at 25% or 100 people, whichever is fewer, and outdoor gatherings can expand to 200 people.

A full list of what limits will be lifted after the descent into the yellow tier for that one week can be found at https://covid19.ca.gov/safer- economy/.

When California fully reopens the economy on June 15, the state will move beyond the Blueprint for a Safer Economy — the system of tiers the state has employed since last year. There will be no capacity restrictions or social distancing enforced, and only "mega events" — events with crowds larger than 5,000 people indoors or 10,000 outdoors -- will require or recommend vaccine verification.

On Monday, the county reported 65 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the cumulative case total to 280,807, while the death toll remained unchanged at 3,764.

A total of 5,898 tests were reported to the county on Monday, with 1.1% returning positive. The 14-day rolling average percentage of positive cases is 0.8%.

As of Monday, nearly 1.68 million San Diego County residents — almost 60% of residents 12 and older — are fully vaccinated and more than 2.07 million residents have received one of two doses.

More than 4.21 million doses have been received by the county, with more than 3.78 million administered.

— City News Service