Days after entering the red tier, Pasadena and LA County are close to meeting the case rate to enter the even less restrictive orange tier.
But there are other benchmarks to be met.
According to figures released by the state Tuesday, the county’s adjusted daily rate of new COVID-19 cases is 4.1 per 100,000 residents, down from 5.2 per 100,000 last week.
With the rate now falling to 4.1 per 100,000 residents, the county finds itself in striking distance of possibly advancing to the next tier, orange. To enter that tier, a county must have a daily case rate of 3.9 per 100,000 residents or better for two consecutive weeks.
Reaching the orange tier would allow the county to lift all capacity limits at retail stores and shopping malls, while raising the allowable capacity at other locations, such as museums, movie theaters, aquariums, churches, fitness centers, and restaurants.
The orange tier would also authorize a reopening of bars for outdoor service and limited indoor service at wineries.
The county on Monday officially entered the red tier of the state’s four-level Blueprint for a Safer Economy, which governs business restrictions during the pandemic. County rankings in the blueprint are based on the rates of daily new cases and the rate of people testing positive for the virus. Los Angeles County’s seven-day average of positive tests is now at 2%, according to the state.
The county entered the red tier — which allowed the resumption of indoor dining and the reopening of movie theaters and indoor fitness centers, all at limited capacity — thanks to the daily case rate averaging less than 10 per 100,000 residents for two weeks. and breweries.
Falling case rates are continuing throughout the state, including in San Diego and Riverside counties, which both qualified Tuesday to join Los Angeles and Orange counties in the red tier.
As of Tuesday, only 11 of the state’s 58 counties were still languishing in the most-restrictive purple tier of the economic-reopening blueprint.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said that equates to “more and more business activity, more people back in schools, more and more energy, more optimism about this state and its future.”
The county’s move this week into the red tier of the state’s blueprint provided hope that recovery is on the horizon.
Under Los Angeles County’s red tier guidelines — modeled after the state’s — indoor dining can resume at 25% of capacity. Restaurants must have eight feet of distance between all tables, which are restricted to a maximum of six people from the same household. The rules also call for ventilation to be increased “to the maximum extent possible.”
Restaurant servers were already required to wear a face mask and a face shield. With the new rules, the Department of Public Health “strongly recommends” that employees upgrade their face coverings, through the use of higher-grade N95 or KN95 masks, or a combination of double-masking and a face shield.
Health officials also strongly recommend — but do not require — that all employees be informed about and offered the chance to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
County Health Services Director Dr. Christina Ghaly noted that while the hospitalization number is still declining, it’s dropping at a slower pace than it has in recent weeks. She also said the rate of COVID transmission in the county — which is the average number of people a COVID patient infects with the virus — rose slightly in the past week, reaching 0.87, up from 0.79.
Huntington Hospital reported just five patients in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Twenty-eight patients in the hospital are battling the virus.
Although the number is up, it remains lower than 1.0, meaning the spread of the virus is being slowed overall. If the number is higher than one, case numbers overall are expected to increase.
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