COUNTY NUMBERS INDICATE STABLE RISK LEVEL

Region hopes state will put it in the clear for another week

Barring an unfavorable testing adjustment, San Diego County looks to be in the clear for another week regarding the state’s COVID-19 risk rankings.

According to county data available Monday, the region had a case rate of 7.0 per 100,000 during the seven-day window that the California Department of Health and Human Services will use to calculate its next reopening assessment, which is due midday today.

Seven is the limit for remaining in the second-to-lowest or “red” tier. That case rate is slightly better than last week’s 7.2. The state reduced the raw score downward to 6.7 because San Diego County performed a higher number of coronavirus tests per 100,000 residents than the median rate statewide.

An active campaign to increase local testing rates produced tangible results Monday with the opening of a new site offering free public tests at the South Chula Vista Library, 389 Orange Ave. The site will be open from 12:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday

and has a capacity of 200 tests per day.

Given that the county’s testing rates have further accelerated since last week, it is probable, though not guaranteed, that the region is in for another reduction of its caserate score on Tuesday.

The specific testing information necessary to calculate the precise testing rate from Sept. 20 to Sept. 26 — the seven-day window that will be used to calculate this week’s score — is not available to the public.

The state also assigns tiers based on each county’s coronavirus test positivity rate.

But the county’s scores in this attribute have been consistently better than its current tier assignment and nowhere near the limit of 8 percent that could cause it to drop into the lowest, “purple” tier.

Falling would require restaurants and other organizations to stop using the small fractions of their indoor space that they have regained in recent weeks.

Monday’s COVID-19 report for the county lists 224 additional positive tests but no new deaths.

According to the report, 262 of the 4,413 hospitalized patients across the region had confirmed or probable COVID-19 diagnoses Sunday, filling about 6 percent of occupied beds.

COVID patients were being treated in 87 of the 467 intensive care beds cumulatively in use across the region Sunday.

No outbreaks in community settings were reported Monday.