California changes the reopening criteria again
State allots 40% of vaccine to poorer areas
SACRAMENTO >> Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration announced changes late Wednesday night to California’s tiered reopening system that will make it easier for businesses to reopen and increase pressure on school districts to bring kids back to campus.
Under the new system, California will earmark 40% of its COVID-19 vaccine doses for low-income communities spread out across 400 of the state’s ZIP codes, largely in Los Angeles County, the Inland Empire and the Central Valley. Once 2 million of the roughly 8 million eligible residents in those communities are vaccinated, the state will adjust the coronavirus case rate needed for counties to move from the most restrictive purple tier to the red tier. Instead of 7 cases per 100,000, it will be raised to 10 cases per 100,000 — easing the way for restaurants, gyms, museums, movie theaters and other businesses to reopen indoors at limited capacity, according to a CALMatters report.
Once 4 million residents are vaccinated in those lowincome communities — defined as those with low scores on the state’s Healthy Places Index, which measures criteria including income, education, park access, air pollution and housing — the state will adjust the threshold to enter the orange and yellow tiers.
Administration officials said that 1.6 million doses have already been administered in those low-income communities, and it could take around two weeks to reach the 2 million mark necessary to adjust case rates. Currently, 87% of the state’s population lives in purple-tier counties.
California’s approach will continue to focus on masking and effective use of testing, contact tracing, quarantine and isolation. The state is also updating its recommendations about the most effective use of masks and when to consider double masking.
“With more vaccines online and administered, California is now in a position to take steps toward ending this pandemic by keeping our guard up and by vaccinating those Californians most at risk and most exposed,” said Newsom. “Vaccinating our most impacted communities, across our state, is the right thing to do and the fastest way to end this pandemic.”
Officials said they also may change the sector-bysector business reopening guidelines in the coming weeks. Recent lawsuits by restaurateurs, salon owners and craft brewers have alleged unfair treatment.
The new vaccine strategy follows weeks of Newsom’s emphasis on developing an “equity frame.” African American and Latino Californians have been the hardest hit throughout the pandemic, with the highest levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. They’ve also been vaccinated at lower rates.
“Increasing vaccinations in our hardest-hit communities is both morally right, and good for public health, because it will slow the spread of disease,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency. “Even with these changes, California will retain some of the most robust public health protections in the nation.”
“By vaccinating more people, and those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19, science tells us that the disease should spread more slowly, giving variants fewer opportunities to take hold, and the health care system should be preserved,” continued Dr. Ghaly.
“Businesses large and small across California have taken extraordinary steps to protect their employees and their customers,” said Dee Dee Myers, Senior Advisor to Governor Newsom and Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). “Their hard work, along with the efforts of Californians to abide by ongoing guidance, has allowed us to lower infection rates, facilitate equitable vaccine distribution and create an accelerated path toward reopening.”
“Our goal is to get to the day when the Blueprint is no longer needed. As more people are vaccinated and more vaccines are available, especially in our most impacted communities, we can envision a day when California can enter the ‘green tier’ — in which strict public health measures will no longer be needed,” continued Newsom.
“Until then, we will continue to evaluate, update and disclose public health and vaccine data to move at a steady and responsible pace.”
With three vaccines online and nearly 10 million doses administered statewide, state officials said vaccines have made a difference and overall disease trends have improved dramatically over the past six weeks. Case rates, test positivity, transmission rate, hospitalizations and ICU admissions are all on a steady decline since the winter surge.
The announcement also came hours before the oneyear anniversary of Newsom declaring a state of emergency due to COVID-19. With the governor facing a recall all but certain to qualify for the ballot, his challenge is to move the state forward quickly enough that people see improvement, but not fast enough to jeopardize its progress as new virus strains emerge. What the governor likely hopes to avoid at all costs: having things spiral out of control as as they did in July and December, prompting him to shut down the state for the second and third time.