SJ County still stuck in red tier Promotion unlikely to come before state’s full reopening planned for June 15
STOCKTON — San Joaquin County has been in the red tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy for more than a month, and it seems it won’t be promoted again before California’s economy is completely reopened on June 15.
The California Department of Public Health announced its latest round of tier promotions, and San Joaquin County was one of 11 that was not promoted to the orange tier.
Dr. Maggie Park, the county’s public health officer, had hoped on April 20 that the county would be promoted by this time.
New COVID-19 cases need to be less than 5.9 per 100,000 residents, and the county’s rate remains at 7.2 per 100,000, where it sat on April 20.
Its test positivity and health equity rates are 2.8% and 3.3%, which qualify for orange tier status. However, the county cannot earn credit for those metrics because the new case rate remains in the red tier.
Had the new case rate declined to less than 5.9 per 100,000 this week, that would have earned the county credit. That new case rate must remain in the orange tier range in order for the county to officially be promoted, health officials have said.
Daniel Kim, county public health’s supervising health educator, said with only 35% of the county’s population vaccinated as of this week and the presence of multiple variants on the rise, new infections will persist among those who are still not vaccinated.
He added that because the county had been in the purple tier for a majority of the pandemic, the move to red last month has most likely caused residents to put their guard down.
“We’re seeing more large gatherings, people intermingling with and without masks, not knowing who have been vaccinated or not,” Kim said. “More students have been returning to the classroom now, and while youth are less likely to get COVID-19, they may still be asymptomatic and helping to spread the disease if exposed.”
With many of the county’s residents still at risk for contracting COVID-19, Kim said the agency must make sure it can vaccinate as many people around them as possible, as well as protect those who either choose not to get vaccinated, or those who cannot, such as children or the immunocompromised.
“With the steady new case rates we’re seeing right now, we will likely not get into orange tier before the June 15 shift out of the blueprint model and when all businesses can reopen fully,” he said. “The goal is also to not increase our rates until that time, so people should continue to get vaccinated, get tested, wear a mask, avoid large gatherings with especially those who are unvaccinated, and maintain social distancing.”
As of Tuesday, county public health reported 73,180 cases and 1,391 deaths since the pandemic began. There are currently 1,163 active cases of COVID-19, and 70,626 people have recovered.
In Lodi’s 95240 ZIP Code, there have been 4,847 cases and 148 deaths, and in the 95242 ZIP Code, there have been 2,056 cases and 37 deaths.
Some 201,860 residents have been fully vaccinated, of which 19,867 are in Lodi.
San Joaquin County Emergency Medical Services reported Tuesday there were 42 people being treated for COVID-19 in seven hospitals, of which 19 were in the intensive care unit.
Six people were being treated at Adventist Health Lodi Memorial, of which one was in the ICU.
Sacramento County is also stuck in red tier status this week, with a new case rate of 7.3 per 100,000 residents, a 2.7% positivity rate and a 3.8% health equity rate.
There have been 104,610 cases and 1,678 deaths in Sacramento County. Of those, 2,793 cases and 37 deaths were in Galt.
There have been 465,279 residents fully vaccinated in the county.
Other counties that remained in the red tier this week include Del Norte, Shasta, Tehama, Yuba, Nevada, Placer, Solano, Stanislaus and Merced.
San Francisco, San Mateo, Mendocino, Trinity, Lassen, Sierra, Alpine, Mono and Los Angeles have all reached the least restrictive yellow tier.
The remaining 37 counties in the state are in the orange tier.