Riverside County to enter red tier today
More businesses can resume indoor activity
Riverside County today is set to join San Bernardino, Orange and Los Angeles counties in allowing more businesses to resume indoor operations.
After weeks and weeks of plummeting coronavirus transmission rates, all four counties now have metrics within the red, or substantial risk, tier on the state’s system.
On Sunday, San Bernardino and Orange counties reopened certain businesses with capacity restrictions. Los Angeles County did so Monday.
Riverside County qualified for the more-permissive red tier with a 6.1 adjusted case rate, a 3.3% positivity rate and a 3.7% positivity rate in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities for the week ending March 6.
In the red tier, businesses such as gyms, restaurants, movie theaters, museums and dance studios can serve customers inside with certain modifications.
“We’ve waited a long time for more of our local businesses to increase operations or return to serving more customers indoors,” Riverside County Supervisor Karen Spiegel said in a news release. “Many businesses were negatively impacted beyond what we thought possible.
“[Tuesday’s] news about moving into the red tier is a positive and hopeful sign of more great things to come,” Spiegel continued. “If we continue to work together, we can keep this momentum going.”
The Inland Empire and Los Angeles County have not seen virus transmission rates so low since the state began the color-coded tier system in August.
While Riverside County had been in the red tier before, it took longer to leave the purple, or widespread risk, tier this time because the county had the state’s worst adjusted case rate for multiple weeks in January and February.
That figure has tumbled in recent weeks, however, thanks, in part, to increased vaccinations.
Riverside County on Tuesday also reported 27 new coronavirus deaths, bringing its cumulative death toll to 4,011.
Hospitalizations in the Inland Empire continue to fall, with Riverside County reporting 188 COVID-19 patients as of Monday and San Bernardino County reporting 185, its lowest number of patients since Oct. 14.
Los Angeles County, meanwhile, reported that 857 were in hospitals as of Monday.
County health officials reported a series of positive signs Tuesday, which marked the one-year anniversary of the county implementing
a stay-at-home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Here are the latest numbers as of Tuesday, according to county and state public health officials.
San Bernardino County
Confirmed cases: 288,932 total, up 64 from Monday, averaging 127 reported per day in the past week
Deaths: 3,531 total, up 19 from Monday, averaging 50.1 reported per day in the past week
Hospital survey: 185 confirmed and 17 suspected patients hospitalized Monday, including 46 confirmed and one suspected patient in intensive care units, with 25 of 25 facilities reporting. The number of confirmed patients is down 26.9% from a week earlier.
Tests: 2,597,417 total, up 2,549 from Monday, averaging 6,811 reported per day in the past week
Resolved cases (estimate): 283,890 total, up 145 from Monday, averaging 124 per day in the past week
Vaccinations: San Bernardino County residents have received 496,160 vaccine doses, with 172,821 people fully vaccinated
Reopening plan tier: Red (substantial risk level; some nonessential indoor business operations are closed) based on these metrics as of Tuesday:
• New cases per day per 100,000 residents: 5.2
• Case rate adjusted for testing volume: 5.2
• Test positivity rate: 2.7% (3.0% in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods)
• What’s next: To advance to the orange tier and reopen more businesses, San Bernardino County would need an adjusted case rate below 4.0 and a positivity rate below 5.0% for the whole county and 5.3% in disadvantaged neighborhoods for two consecutive weeks and to have been in the red tier for three weeks. If metrics get worse, it could move back
into the more restrictive purple tier.
Riverside County
Confirmed cases: 292,403 total, up 110 from Monday, averaging 130 reported per day in the past week
Deaths: 4,011 total, up 27 from Monday, averaging 10.1 reported per day in the past week
Hospital survey: 188 confirmed and 23 suspected patients hospitalized Monday, including 42 confirmed and five suspected patients in the ICU, with 21 of 21 facilities reporting. The number of confirmed patients is down 28.8% from a week earlier.
Tests: 2,603,505 total, up 5,295 from Monday, averaging 7,567 reported per day in the past week
Recovered cases: 284,290 total, up 123 from Monday, averaging 398 per day in the past week
Vaccinations: The county says 716,131 doses have been administered to Riverside County residents as of Tuesday.
Reopening plan tier: Red (substantial risk level; some nonessential indoor business operations are closed) based on these metrics as of Tuesday:
• New cases per day per 100,000 residents: 6.1
• Case rate adjusted for testing volume: 6.1
• Test positivity rate: 3.3% (3.7% in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods)
• What’s next: To advance to the orange tier and reopen more businesses, Riverside County would need an adjusted case rate below 4.0 and a positivity rate below 5.0% for the whole county and 5.3% in disadvantaged neighborhoods for two consecutive weeks and to have been in the red tier for three weeks. If metrics get worse, it could move back into the more restrictive purple tier.
Los Angeles County
Confirmed cases: 1,210,657 total, up 1,708 from Friday, averaging 941 reported per day in the
past week
Deaths: 22,475 total, up 68 from Friday, averaging 62 reported per day in the past week
Hospital survey: 865 confirmed and 145 suspected patients hospitalized Sunday, including 241 confirmed and 24 suspected patients in the ICU, with 92 of 92 facilities reporting. The number of confirmed patients is down 22.7% from a week earlier.
People tested: About 5,961,000 total, up about 24,000 from Friday, averaging 9,000 reported per day in the past week
Vaccinations: The county says 2.74 million doses, including 899,527 second doses, have been administered as of Wednesday.
Reopening plan tier: Red (substantial risk level; some nonessential indoor business operations are closed) based on these metrics as of March 9:
• New cases per day per 100,000 residents: 6.9
• Case rate adjusted for testing volume: 5.2
• Test positivity rate: 2.5% (3.6% in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods)
• What’s next: To advance to the orange tier and reopen more businesses, L.A. County would need an adjusted case rate below 4.0 and a positivity rate below 5.0% for the whole county and 5.3% in disadvantaged neighborhoods for two consecutive weeks and to have been in the red tier for three weeks. If metrics get worse, it could move back into the more restrictive purple tier.
This includes the latest numbers from the L.A. County Department of Public Health as well as Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own health departments and are typically at least a day ahead of the county in reporting their cities’ cases and deaths.