For the first time, San Bernardino County will enter the red level of the coronavirus reopening framework in California on Sunday, March 14, a move that will allow restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and other businesses to serve a limited number of customers indoors.
Riverside County is on track to move to the red level on Wednesday if current benchmarks apply, county spokeswoman Brooke Federico said Friday, March 12th.
San Bernardino County Supervisor Janice Rutherford tweeted Friday that the province will move from the purple, or the most restrictive level, to red. The state’s four-pressure level for a safer economy eases or tightens business restrictions based on a number of measures, including the rate of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants and the rate at which COVID-19 tests return positive.
– Janice Rutherford (@JanRutherfordCA) 12 March 2021
In a provincial news release, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Curt Hagman, praised the residents of the province for working tirelessly over the past year to protect each other’s health and safety. “
“It was a community-wide effort in which everyone was involved, from health workers and essential workers to businesses and residents, according to strict public health protocols. “Our zeal is now beginning to bear fruit,” he said.
From January 4 to March 9, the province saw a 99% decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases, Corwin Porter, director of public health, said in the release.
San Bernardino County has never moved out of the press level since the framework went into effect. Riverside County switched from purple to red in September, but slipped back into the press a month later amid a sharp increase in the consequences that led Govin Newsom to issue a new home order in December.
Cases and hospitalizations have been declining since January, and the amended state guidelines issued last week allowed the counties of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino to move to the red level after 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered in California’s hardest hit communities.
Once that happened, the state dropped the measure to enter the red level. Instead of having to have seven new cases per day per 100,000 inhabitants, provinces now only need to have 10 new cases per 100,000 to be eligible for red status.
According to San Diego, the director of public health, the case of San Bernardino County is currently at 5.2 cases per 100,000, its positive percentage is 2.8% and the positive test rate in underprivileged communities is 3.2%.
The counties of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino have been below the threshold of 10 cases in the past two weeks, while Riverside County has been below 10 cases for a week.
Riverside County spokeswoman Brooke Federico said in an email Friday: “is on track” for the red level because its positive test rate in disadvantaged communities is low. According to the guidelines of the state, the province allows to progress through the low positivity in the level system, she said.
“According to the accelerated progress of health standards, we have already met the red level criteria for one week,” Federico said. “If these statistics continue, we expect to advance to the red level on Wednesday.”
In January and February, Riverside County had the worst adjusted rate in the state for several weeks, and although numbers have been plummeting since then – currently more than 90% lower than the peak two months ago – the country’s rate has remained slightly higher than and neighbors. .
Los Angeles County will move into the red level on Monday, March 15th.
If you move to the red level, restaurants can eat indoors with a maximum capacity of 25% or 100 people, depending on the least. Gyms / fitness centers, museums can also resume indoor operations, while shopping malls, retail and personal care services can let more customers inside.
Schools also have the green light to re-teach for grades 7-12, subject to conditions, although the decision to reopen depends on each school district.
Staff writers Nikie Johnson and David Rosenfeld contributed to this report.