Orange County Coronavirus Updates: Red Tier Reopenings

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Orange County reported nine more deaths from COVID- 19 and 194 new cases Wednesday.

As Orange County has moved up a level in Gov. Gavin Newsom's four-tier Blueprint for a Safer Economy, we look at new numbers to better understand statistics that will be essential in reopening our county.

The Red Tier, also known as the Substantial Tier, is for counties with a new daily case rate of between 4 and 7 per 100,000 residents, combined with a positive test rating of 5 to 8 percent.

On Wednesday, Orange County reported a positive case rate of 5.2, combined with a testing positivity rate of 4.2 percent.

To get to the orange tier, or the "Moderate" tier, the county must maintain a positivity rate of between 2 to and 4.9 percent, and a new daily case count of 1 to 3.9 people per 100,000 residents.

Over the next two weeks, we will monitor these figures daily.

Meanwhile more businesses and institutions made plans to reopen now that the county has been upgraded from the purple to red tier of the state's coronavirus monitoring system.

The county's overall coronavirus totals are 50,190 cases and 1,065 fatalities, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Hospitalizations in the county dropped from 242 Tuesday to 234, while the number of intensive care unit patients dropped from 70 to 62.

The OCHCA reported that 710,708 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, including 6,853 reported Wednesday. There have been an estimated 44,220 recoveries.

Of the nine deaths reported Wednesday, five were skilled nursing facility residents.

Since the pandemic began, 399 of the fatalities were skilled nursing facility residents and 74 lived in assisted living facilities.

Here are the current coronavirus case counts in Orange County cities as of Wednesday:

• Aliso Viejo - 354 Total Cases
• Anaheim - 8596 Total Cases
• Brea - 457 Total Cases
• Buena Park - 1435 Total Cases
• Costa Mesa - 1739 Total Cases
• Coto de Caza - 42 Total Cases
• Cypress - 512 Total Cases
• Dana Point - 254 Total Cases
• Fountain Valley - 482 Total Cases
• Fullerton - 2273 Total Cases
• Garden Grove - 2746 Total Cases
• Huntington Beach - 2274 Total Cases
• Irvine - 1520 Total Cases
• La Habra - 1330 Total Cases
• La Palma - 147 Total Cases
• Ladera Ranch - 159 Total Cases
• Laguna Beach - 197 Total Cases
• Laguna Hills - 291 Total Cases
• Laguna Niguel - 397 Total Cases
• Laguna Woods - 49 Total Cases
• Lake Forest - 778 Total Cases
• Los Alamitos - 148 Total Cases
• Midway City - 118 Total Cases
• Mission Viejo - 762 Total Cases
• Newport Beach - 1080 Total Cases
• Orange - 2280 Total Cases
• Placentia - 873 Total Cases
• Rancho Mission Viejo - 58 Total Cases
• Rancho Santa Margarita - 323 Total Cases
• Rossmoor - 62 Total Cases
• San Clemente - 457 Total Cases
• San Juan Capistrano - 445 Total Cases
• Santa Ana - 9620 Total Cases
• Seal Beach - 264 Total Cases
• Silverado - 42 Total Cases
• Stanton - 617 Total Cases
• Trabuco Canyon - 186 Total Cases
• Tustin - 1185 Total Cases
• Villa Park - 50 Total Cases
• Westminster - 949 Total Cases
• Yorba Linda - 650 Total Cases

Dr. Clayton Chau, the county's chief health officer and director of the OCHCA, issued a new health order Tuesday that spells out the details of how businesses can reopen.

The Santa Ana Zoo announced it had reopened Wednesday.

The zoo will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays to Sundays and on Tuesdays until 4 p.m.

The amusement rides will remain closed as will other "high-touch areas" of the zoo's exhibits.

Bowers Museum in Santa Ana announced it will reopen on Saturday with a continuance of its Walt Disney exhibit.

There is still no word on the reopening plans for Disneyland Resort as of this report.

"We knew we had already met those metrics" as of Friday, Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett said, adding she spent a good deal of time over the holiday weekend helping prepare businesses for reopening.

"I contacted a lot of businesses over Labor Day weekend to get them prepared to rehire staff and getting tables sanitized and (personal protective equipment) in place to pull the trigger when we open today in the red tier," she said Tuesday.

Under the red tier, the county will be able to reopen movie theaters and restaurants for indoor dining at 25% capacity, or 100 people, whichever is less, and churches for indoor worship at 25% capacity, or 100 people. Restaurants must close for indoor dining by 10 p.m.

Museums, zoos and aquariums also may reopen indoor activities at 25% capacity.

Shopping centers may expand from 25% capacity to half-capacity under the red tier.

Personal care service business such as nail salons and tattoo parlors may reopen indoors with modifications. Gyms may reopen, but at 10% capacity.

Bartlett said she saw a good deal of compliance with state guidelines for social distancing and face covering usage over the Labor Day weekend.

"We had a lot of people out and about over Labor Day weekend, but I did see a lot of compliance with the state public health guidelines, so that was reassuring," Bartlett said.

Orange County CEO Frank Kim agreed.

"I did drive by the beaches to see how they were doing and while it did look like a lot of beaches were being utilized, I did see people placing their towels and sun coverings six feet apart, so I thought residents and beach users were using good behavior," Kim said. "I'm not expecting to see a big bump up in terms of (coronavirus) cases."

Kim said the county's contact tracers have noticed far greater threats than outdoor gatherings such as at beaches.

"The greater risk from contact tracing we've found is really in the family gatherings," Kim said.

Many private K-6th-grade schools that won waivers from the county and state returned to in-person instruction Tuesday.

They included the Los Alamitos School District's elementary schools as well as 27 Diocese of Orange schools. Two of the Roman Catholic schools remained in distance learning.

But even with the positive trends, the earliest Orange County's schools can reopen for personal instruction is Sept. 22. County officials had argued for credit for time spent off the state's coronavirus watch list before the state switched to the tier system, changing the way it evaluated progress against curbing the spread of coronavirus. However, county officials were told the state did not want to establish a precedent.

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