L.A. County Prepares for Red Tier

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L.A. County Health Department states that the county has returned to daily case numbers that are at pre-surge levels.

By News Desk

The seven-day average number of daily cases by episode date has continued to decrease, and as of February 28 is 700.

Last Friday, the state announced updates to their Blueprint for a Safer Economy. In addition to assessing county case rates, positivity rates and positivity rates in neighborhoods with the lowest scores in the Healthy Places Index, the state is now taking into consideration the number of vaccinations that have been administered in the lowest resourced neighborhoods statewide.  Unlike the other three metrics, vaccination numbers will be calculated statewide and used to change the case rate thresholds for counties to move from one tier to another:

• Once 2 million vaccine doses have been administered in the state to the communities with the lowest score in the Healthy Places Index, the threshold to move from the purple tier to the red tier will go from 7 new cases per 100,000 people to 10 new cases per 100,000 people. To move to the orange tier, the threshold will remain at 4 cases per 100,000 people, and to move to the yellow tier, the threshold will remain at 1.
• Once 4 million vaccine doses have been administered in the state to the communities with the lowest score in the Healthy Places Index, the threshold to move from the purple tier to the red tier will remain at 10 per 100,000 people, but the threshold will change for moving to the orange tier, from 4 new cases per 100,0000 residents to 6 cases per 100,000 people, and to move to the yellow tier, the threshold will change from 1 new case per 100,000 residents to 2 cases per 100,000 people.

The state anticipates administering 2 million doses to residents in hard hit communities by the end of the week.  Last week, the case rate in L.A. County was below 10 new cases per 100,000 residents. If this week’s adjusted case rate remains below 10 new cases per 100,000 people, our understanding is that within 48 hours of the state announcing the vaccine trigger has been met, Los Angeles County, along with other counties with qualifying case rates, would move into the red tier.  We will be working with the Board of Supervisors and our sector partners to prepare appropriate modifications to the Health Officer Order reflecting the County’s move to the red tier.

Outdoor sporting events, concerts, theme parks

The State also announced plans to permit the reopening of outdoor sporting events, live outdoor concerts and theme parks, starting on April 1. Starting April 1, outdoor sporting events and outdoor live concerts will be permitted with significant capacity and infection control modifications.  For counties in the purple tier, capacity at these outdoor events will be limited to 100 people or less, reservations will be required, and concessions will not be allowed.  Only people who live in the region where the event is taking place will be permitted to attend.  Once in the red tier, these outdoor events can open at 20% capacity, limited to in-state visitors only; concessions will be allowed only while seated.  As counties move into less restrictive tiers, the allowed capacity will increase.

Schools in Red Tier

Public Health is also preparing for schools to be permitted, in the red tier, to open for on-site learning for grades 7 through 12. As schools prepare for these students, they must have an updated State COVID-19 Safety Plan (CSP), including the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Prevention Program and the CDPH COVID-19 School Guidance Checklist posted to the school or district website no less than 5 days before their planned opening date.  Schools will also have to file an updated L.A. County Reopening Survey and an updated L.A. County Reopening Protocol for K through 12 Schools at least 5 days before the proposed reopening date for grades 7 through 12. More information will be available online.

Guidance for fully vaccinated people

Fully vaccinated people should continue to wear a mask and maintain physical distance in public. They should mask, physically distance, and practice other prevention measures when visiting unvaccinated people at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease, or who have an unvaccinated household member at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease, and when around unvaccinated people from multiple households.  Fully vaccinated people should also avoid medium- and large-sized in-person gatherings. There is a growing body of evidence that fully vaccinated people are less likely to have asymptomatic infection and potentially less likely to transmit COVID-19 to others.  However, given the need for additional research, preventive measures continue to be important during vaccine implementation.