Contra Costa County could transition into red tier this month

PLEASANT HILL, Calif. (KRON) - Contra Costa County remains in the state’s restrictive purple tier but the county expects to transition into the red tier sooner than you might think.

Masking, physical distancing, avoiding large gatherings, and an accelerated COVID-19 vaccination campaign are the reasons Contra Costa Health Services says the county is approaching the state's less restrictive red tier.

This means businesses are moving closer toward allowing customers indoors or increasing capacity limits at establishments already allowing customers inside.

"Our case numbers and positivity rates are continuing to fall, as they have since mid-January, although the rate of decline has somewhat slowed,” Chris Farnitano said. 

Health officer Dr. Chris Farnitano and public health director Anna Roth updated the county's COVID-19 outlook at the Board of Supervisor's meeting Tuesday.

“If these trends continue, we do expect that Contra Costa County will move into the red tier within two or three weeks,” Farnitano said. 

As it stands now, the test positivity rate is 3.4 percent -- That's below the eight-percent threshold to move tiers.

The equity metric is 5.5 percent, also below the 8-percent requirement to go from purple to red but the adjusted case rate sits at 9.2 per 100,000 residents.

That number needs to stay below seven new cases for two consecutive weeks for the county to transition tiers.

“Right now, about 80-percent of all the vaccine that’s moving into our county is being used for second doses,” Roth said. 

Roth says 86-percent of adults 75 years of age or older have been vaccinated and 60-percent of those between 65 and 74 years old have also received their shots.

Via Coronavirus | KRON4 https://www.kron4.com

Post a Comment

0 Comments