Recently this week, three more of the Bay Area’s states could reverse their wide-scale reopening of the business establishments due to another spike of coronavirus cases across California. The mentioned territories would suffer potential resuming restrictions, reducing to a limited number of trades to continue business as the holiday season draws nearer.
On November 17’s upcoming state’s evaluation, counties Napa and Santa Clara would revert to “substantial” red tier from their “moderate” orange status. Meanwhile, Solano County could relapse to the most restrictive “widespread” purple rank due to straight several weeks of a continuous spike of COVID-19 cases in the said district.
The previously mentioned counties would be followed by 11 more California divisions to rank themselves in more limiting tiers on Tuesday, including counties Santa Cruz and Contra Costa. Even San Francisco cancels its supposed-to-be resumed indoor dining operations to halt the virus’s spread across the country.
Three coronavirus scales help determine placements in California’s four-tier reopening structure. A new equity metric, rate of new cases (varies from state to state), and the number of positive tests are the three metrics used to rank counties in their respective statuses.
Those who get moved into more restrictive ranks are those counties failing to meet one or more of those prerequisites dor their tier in two consecutive weeks. However, districts that show diminishing factors could remain in their ranks.
According to county officers, several factors influence the sudden increase of coronavirus cases. Few of these components include Halloween festivities, large meetings, contact-tracing problems, household transmissions, and “pandemic fatigue.”
For several continuous weeks, Napa County is at risk of reverting to a more restrictive tier due to recent COVID-19 case updates in the division. The county’s modified case estimate was 4.3 per 100,000 population as of the end of October this year, reaching the red-tier threshold of 4.
Furthermore, Napa’s case rate spiked up to 7.7 percent per 100,000 according to the latest tier assignment, falling over the purple tier threshold. However, on Tuesday, the state health department confirmed that counties could relapse back only one tier each time. The rule applies to Napa’s status, allowing it to move back to the red level instead of the purple rank.
Health officer Dr. Karen Relucio commented on the matter during a presentation conducted to the Napa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
“In the last couple of weeks, cases have risen exponentially,” Dr. Relucio stated.
The health officer mentioned that the public’s lack of cooperation with contract tracing is one of the major causes of the new surging coronavirus cases.
Meanwhile, Solano’s adjusted case rate is currently 11.3 per 100,000, a surge from late October’s 7.1.
Like Napa’s case, Solano also expects to drop to a more restrictive tier for several weeks. However, the county would land on the purple level instead of the red rank.
According to Solano County Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas on Wednesday, Solano’s metrics improved last week to qualify the county to retain its red-tier status. However, the sudden increase in cases could place it back on the purple tier following next week’s appraisal.
“Things are worsening,” admitted Matyas. “We are experiencing what I think is a genuine second wave.”
For five consecutive weeks, Santa Clara County remained in the orange tier with its case rate of 4.1 per 100,000 population, proving its estimate lower than Napa’s. However, Solano meets the benchmark of 4 with the previously mentioned case rate, possibly reverting it to red-tier once again.
In response to Solano’s current state, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department scheduled a press meeting to discuss the district’s case surges and reopening plans on Monday.
