California paints Orange County ‘orange’ in state reopening blueprint Wednesday

It’s official — as of Wednesday, Orange County will be in the orange tier of the state reopening framework for the first time.

Data released by the state Tuesday indicate that Orange County will be able to move from the red “substantial” spread tier into the orange “moderate” tier. This means that bars will be able to reopen outdoors with modifications. It also does away with indoor capacity limits for retail, though standard safety practices are still required.

Other sectors such as museums, zoos, aquariums and places of worship will be able to increase their indoor capacities to about 50%. Restaurants and movie theaters will be able to open up to 50% or 200 people, whichever number is fewer.

This is the first time that Orange County has qualified to be in the orange tier. It was reassigned to the red tier earlier this month.

To move ahead to less restrictive tiers in the state reopening guidelines, counties are required to meet a specific threshold for their adjusted daily case rate for every 100,000 residents, test positivity rate and the health equity quartile positivity rate, which tracks the test positivity in disadvantaged communities.

Metrics must meet those thresholds for at least two consecutive weeks before being eligible for the next tier.

They’re also required to remain in a tier for at least three weeks.

To be eligible to move into the orange tier, Orange County’s daily case rate had to fall between 1 and 3.9 cases for every 100,000 residents; 2% and 4.9% for test positivity rates; and between 2.2% and 5.2% for the health equity quartile positivity rate.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Orange County Health Care Agency reported the adjusted daily case rate to be 2.8 for every 100,00 residents and the health equity quartile positivity rate to be 2.6%.

Data currently indicate that the county’s positivity rate is 1.7%, which just below the threshold necessary for the yellow tier.

County health officials reported 106 cases on Tuesday and 14 deaths. All of those deaths were of residents not in a care facility.

There are 143 people currently hospitalized in the county for COVID-19 and 26 of those cases are in intensive care units.

About 242,669 county residents are estimated to have recovered.

As of last Thursday, about 455,297 residents have been vaccinated.

Here are the latest cumulative coronavirus case counts and COVID-19 deaths for select cities in Orange County:

• Santa Ana: 44,549 cases; 828 deaths
• Anaheim: 41,479 cases; 829 deaths
• Huntington Beach: 10,511 cases; 209 deaths
• Costa Mesa: 8,841 cases; 128 deaths
• Irvine: 10,369 cases; 81 deaths
• Newport Beach: 3,744 cases; 71 deaths
• Fountain Valley: 3,459 cases; 82 deaths
• Laguna Beach: 820 cases; seven deaths

Here are the case counts by age group, followed by deaths:

• 0 to 17: 26,081 cases; one death
• 18 to 24: 34,643 cases; 10 deaths
• 25 to 34: 49,939 cases; 49 deaths
• 35 to 44: 38,969 cases; 104 deaths
• 45 to 54: 40,138 cases; 299 deaths
• 55 to 64: 31,592 cases; 663 deaths
• 65 to 74: 15,692 cases; 919 deaths
• 75 to 84: 7,947 cases; 1,175 deaths
• 85 and older: 5,372 cases; 1,520 deaths

Updated figures are posted daily at occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/coronavirus-in-oc. Information on COVID-19 vaccines in Orange County can be found at occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/covid-19-vaccine-resources.

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