LOS ANGELES — Ten more counties progressed through the state’s reopening blueprint Tuesday, but no place in Southern California was allowed to change tiers.
Butte, Contra Costa, Fresno, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara and Yolo counties moved from Tier 1, also known as the purple tier, to Tier 2, also known as the red tier. The changes denote the risk of spread of COVID-19, moving from widespread to substantial, according to the state’s labeling system.
Three others — Amador, Calaveras and San Francisco — advanced from Tier 2 to Tier 3, also known as the orange tier, in which a county is considered to have a moderate risk of infection.
Movement through the tiers allows counties to further reopen businesses and expand visitor capacity for some already reopened sectors.
Several counties that have changed tiers have been in the path of recent wildfires — which have displaced tens of thousands of residents — and smoke, which has prompted others to stay inside. Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s Health and Human Services secretary, said Tuesday that those factors did not have a significant effect on the number of reported infections or testing capacity in those areas.
“The transmission rate in different counties are different. We don’t live in the aggregate,” Ghaly said.
The rate of transmission in Southern California is slightly higher than that in the San Francisco Bay Area, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday, while warning of the potential for a second wave of the virus.
In Los Angeles County, which toggled between metrics for Tier 1 and Tier 2 last week, officials have not seen an anticipated surge in cases connected to Labor Day, but the transmission rate has crept up.
L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer warned Monday that community transmission was still high.
In Orange County, which recently reopened its schools, officials had hoped for a move to Tier 3. But a slight bump in cases has kept the county in Tier 2. A county must meet the threshold of a new tier for two consecutive weeks before advancing.
San Diego County, which last week avoided regressing to the more restrictive Tier 1, is again on the brink of moving backward, officials said this week.
———
©2020 Los Angeles Times
Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.