Marin Misses Yellow Tier

MARIN COUNTY, CA — Marin County for the second time in two weeks was widely expected to advance to the less restrictive yellow tier, and it again missed the mark.

The state’s Department of Public Health on Tuesday advanced three counties to the yellow tier designated for regions with minimal COVID-19 risk in California's Blueprint for a Safer Economy. San Francisco, Los Angeles and Trinity counties met certain criteria including lower case rates and hospitalizations among other metrics.

The near-miss figures to bring more hurt to local businesses struggling to stay afloat amid the pandemic that were hoping for some relief the expected lifting of certain restrictions would have brought.

A slight uptick in cases likely kept Marin in the orange tier.

Marin on Monday reported 115 new cases over last 14 days, an increase of four according to the county’s coronavirus dashboard.

The North Bay County is stuck in the orange tier despite just five current coronavirus-related hospitalizations and one of the state’s best vaccination rates.

As of Tuesday, 82.9 percent of Marin residents over the age of 16 have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 62.3 percent are fully vaccinated according to the county's vaccine dashboard.

Marin Health Officer Dr. Matthew Willis attributed the uptick in cases to “pandemic fatigue” that has led to residents letting down their guard, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

“It’s pandemic fatigue,” Willis told The Chronicle.

“If you look at the cases we’re seeing, it’s people cutting corners, doing the things we would not be engaging in two months ago because we were more vigilant.”

Marin narrowly missed an expected to move to the yellow tier on April 20 amid an uptick in cases attributed to spring break travel.

Under the yellow tier gyms and indoor dining could expand from 25 percent to 50 percent, live events with assigned seating could expand to 67 percent and bars could reopen to 25 percent.