Orange County Moves Into Red Tier: What That Means For You

ORANGE COUNTY, CA —Orange County officially moved out of the purple and into the red tier of Gov. Gavin Newsom's key coronavirus metrics on Tuesday. The county had been in purple, or worst of the four color-coded tiers, since the new reopening framework was first announced.

For the past two weeks, the county has sat in that purple "widespread" coronavirus risk range, based upon an algorithm of case rate and test positivity. Tuesday, Orange County moved to the red or "substantial" range, along with five other counties. Seven more counties across the state look to upgrade their status the red tier within the next week.

"Three days of holiday weekend have not been advantageous toward containing the spread of coronavirus," Gov. Newsom said Tuesday in his daily press conference. "We are going to hold the line in terms of the approach we laid out."

Under the red tier of Gov. Gavin Newsom's four-tier Blueprint for a Safer Economy, the county will be able to reopen movie theaters and restaurants for indoor dining at 25 percent capacity and churches for indoor worship at 25 percent capacity. If the county can stay on track, the opportunity to reopen schools may not be far behind.

"We are not where we are going to be," Newsom said in his conference. "We are not yet where we need to be."

At the red phase, theme parks must remain closed, according to the state guide.

Schools can reopen for in-person instruction once their county has been in the Substantial (red) tier for at least two weeks, according to the safety protocols. Schools must follow specific state-mandated guidelines when they reopen, and also, if they have to close again.

"We are into the second week of our new framework with counties," Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of Health and Human Services Agency says, as he thanked county health officers.

"A county will remain in a tier for at least three weeks, and will only move in threshold if they are able to maintain that threshold of case counts, or below," according to Dr. Ghaly.

The red tier allows many businesses and churches to reopen at reduced capacity. Gov. Newsom reminded all to continue to wear masks, physically distance, wash your hands, and minimize mixing.

In understanding Orange County's red tier status here is what is allowed to reopen in this phase:

• shopping centers (50 percent capacity; closed common areas and reduced-capacity food courts)
• restaurants (25 percent capacity)
• fitness centers (10 percent capacity)
• places of worship (25 percent capacity or 100 people — whichever is fewer)
• nail salons
• massage facilities
• museums (25 percent capacity)
• zoos (25 percent capacity)
• aquariums (25 percent capacity)
• movie theaters (25 percent capacity or 100 people — whichever is fewer)

To move forward, a county must meet the next tier’s criteria for two consecutive weeks.

Looking ahead, to meet the "Orange Tier" or Moderate criteria, Orange County would need to reduce the daily case rate to between 1 and 3.9 daily new cases per 100,000 residents. The positivity in the county would need to stay between 2 and 4.9 percent for three weeks, straight.

On Monday, Orange County's daily case rate hovered at 5.6 percent, with a 5 percent positivity rating.

If a county’s metrics worsen for two consecutive weeks, it will be assigned a more restrictive tier. Public health officials are constantly monitoring data and can step in if necessary.

On Tuesday, Orange County's chief health officer, Dr. Clayton Chau, is expected to issue a new health order Tuesday that spells out the details of how businesses can reopen, said Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett.

"We knew we had already met those metrics" as of Friday, Bartlett said.

The supervisor said 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.

Under the red tier of Gov. Gavin Newsom's four-tier Blueprint for a Safer Economy, the county will reopen movie theaters and restaurants for indoor dining at 25% capacity and churches for indoor worship at 25% capacity.

Shopping centers may expand from 25% capacity to half-capacity under the red tier. Movie theaters can reopen at 10%.

Bartlett said she saw a good deal of compliance with state guidelines for social distancing and face-covering usage over the long 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 said he saw much of the same.

"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.

Extended family get-togethers have been driving up cases, he said.
"In the past this has been an area where the disease transmission has been prevalent, so these types of (gatherings) are more of a concern than people out in the park or beach or in an open-air environment," Kim said.

Kim visited South Coast Plaza over the weekend, as well, saying, "it looked like the stores were managing compliance well. They had attestations posted on the front doors, they were limiting the number of individuals allowed into each store and I thought they were doing a good job."

View the full list of what's open and closed here.

Full coronavirus coverage: Coronavirus In California: What To Know