CAMERON PARK, Calif — After 14 weeks in the most restrictive tier, El Dorado County received official notice that its coronavirus positivity rate and health equity metric met the requirements to move to the less restrictive red tier while its case rate remained high.
The California Department of Public Health released its data Tuesday showing El Dorado County met the state's requirements to loosen restrictions for select businesses and activities.
El Dorado County said in a press release, that while the county's businesses are allowed to make these changes starting March 3, people living in the county need to continue wearing face coverings, distancing physically from others and limiting private gatherings to keep transmission rates in the county low.
El Dorado County's case rate is still high enough to meet the most restrictive tier's standards. The county was eligible to move because of its health equity metric and test positivity rate.
"We were able to make the move to the red tier based on meeting the County’s overall test positivity rate and that positivity rate in our socioeconomically disadvantaged census tracts each for two consecutive weeks." El Dorado County spokesperson Carla Haas said. “Our case rate remains in the most restrictive purple tier, so there is more work to be done."
Lassen, Modoc, Napa, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara counties also moved to red tier Tuesday.
Nine counties could be eligible to move to the red tier on March 9, should their numbers remain low. Those counties include:
- Alameda County
- Alpine County
- Butte County
- Calaveras County
- Imperial County
- Mono County
- Placer County
- Santa Cruz County
- Solano County
- Tuolumne County
To move to the red tier, counties need to maintain an adjusted seven-day average case rate of less than seven and a positivity rate of less than 8% for two consecutive weeks. Counties with a positivity rate of less than 5% and a health equity positivity rate of less than 5.2% for two consecutive weeks could also move to the red tier, according to the state's guidelines.
Mariposa County and Plumas County could move to the orange tier should their case rate and positivity rate remain eligible for the orange tier. Alpine County could move to the yellow tier should its case rate and positivity rate remain eligible for the yellow tier.
Humboldt County and Trinity County run the risk of moving to more restrictive tiers should their case rate and positivity rate continues to meet the standards of a more restrictive tier.
More information about how counties move tiers can be found on the California Department of Public Health website.
5-year-old Noah Schneider left Sutter Medical Center Children's Center after battling COVID-19 while living with Cystic Fibrosis. He was in the hospital for 60 days.
