Tuolumne County moving into red tier Sunday

Officials anticipate opening COVID-19 vaccines to everyone in April

Tuolumne County is one of 13 California counties that will be allowed to move from the most restrictive purple tier to less restrictive red tier for COVID-19 risk on Sunday, the state Department of Public Health announced at noon Friday.

The county just missed the cut for the red tier on Tuesday due to its daily coronavirus case rate being too high, but the state increased the threshold to qualify on Friday after administering 2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in places ranked low for socioeconomic opportunity and considered vulnerable to impacts from the pandemic.

“It will enable some businesses to operate at a higher level, but it’s still important that people practice social distancing and help stop the spread of COVID-19,” said County Supervisor Ryan Campbell, who serves as board chairman. “All in all, it shows that we’re moving in the right direction.”

Other counties that will move from the purple to red tier on Sunday were Amador, Colusa, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Mendocino,

Mono, Orange, Placer, San Benito, San Bernardino, Siskiyou, and Sonoma.

Calaveras County was moved into the red tier on Tuesday.

The tiers are part of the state’s so-called Blueprint for a Safer Economy, a color-coded reopening plan that dictates the levels of

restrictions on businesses and activities in a county based on the risk of COVID-19.

A county previously could only move into the red tier if it had seven or fewer new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people per day over three consecutive weeks, though the shift on Friday increased it to 10 or fewer cases per 100,000 people per day.

Tuolumne County’s rate on Tuesday was 7.9 new cases per 100,000 people per day, while Calaveras County’s was 4.8.

Changes for businesses and activities in counties under the red tier as opposed to the purple tier include allowing restaurants to resume dine-in service at 25% capacity; gyms to open indoors at 10% capacity; retail stores to increase from 25% to 50% of capacity; movie theaters to open at 25% of capacity or up to 100 people, whichever is fewer; and museums to open indoors at 25% of capacity.

Bars are still supposed to remain closed, offices are still supposed to be remotework only; and outdoor live events, such as sports or performances, can be held with audiences at 20% of the venue’s capacity and following other requirements starting April 1 under the red tier.

Outdoor live events can increase audience sizes to 33% of capacity under the orange tier and 67% under the least restrictive yellow tier beginning April 1.

Gov. Gavin Newsom also recently announced the state is working on adding a green tier that’s expected to allow 100% reopening and indicate little to no virus circulating.

Dr.

Eric

Sergienko, interim health officer for Tuolumne County, told The Union Democrat earlier this week that he anticipated the county would be moved into the red tier after the 2 million doses were administered and anticipated that it would happen by the end of the week.

Sergienko’s predictions have proven to be largely on target throughout the past year of the pandemic, and he made another one Friday during a weekly press briefing that he anticipates the county will be ready to open eligibility for receiving the vaccine to everyone 16 and older in April.

The timeline would be ahead of the one President Joe Biden announced during a national address on Thursday for all states to open the eligibility to every 16 and older by May 1.

“We’re actually almost there, and it’s only March 12 today,” he said. “So, I think really by the time we get to April, we will be looking at getting into the general population. That is people between the ages of 16 and 64 who do not have underlying medical conditions.”

Sergienko said they also expect to be able to have vaccines into the arms of anyone interested by the end of June, as long as they continue receiving their current allocations of doses or more.

A state vaccination dashboard showed the county had administered 20,027 doses as of Thursday out of a population of roughly 54,000, though the number includes both first and second shots of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines that require two doses.