What is the health equity metric? And how will it affect SLO County’s reopening?
CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect that 12 census tracts in San Luis Obispo County are in the lowest quartile on Califonria’s Healthiest Places Index. A previous version of the article incorrectly used the Public Health Alliance of Southern California’s HPI map which shows national, not state, rankings.
The California Department of Public Health has rolled out a third requirement in order for counties to reopen more business sectors amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far, it’s one SLO County has met, according to the county Public Health Department.
Counties must meet a certain positivity rate, adjusted case rate and now also, a health equity metric, before moving to the next tier of California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The new metric is aimed at ensuring that communities in areas with less access to healthcare resources will not be disproportionately affected by the county’s reopening, the CDPH said.
In California and across the nation, studies have shown that Hispanic or Latino, Black and indigenous populations have been hit hardest by coronavirus.
San Luis Obispo County data reflects this as well.
Although Hispanic and Latino people only make up 22.9% of the county population, they account for 45.6% of local coronavirus cases.
White people make up 68.5% of the county population but only 35.1% of COVID-19 cases locally.
What is the health equity metric based on?
The health equity metric is based on the California Healthy Place Index, which rates census tracts according to 25 different measurements, the CDPH said.
The measurements take into consideration economic, housing, transportation, education, environment, neighborhood, social and health access factors, the CDPH said.
The metric requires that any census tract within a county ranked among the lowest 25 percentile of California’s HPI — in addition to the county as a whole — must have a testing positivity rate meeting the requirements of a lower tier before the county can move forward.
SLO County Public Health officer Dr. Penny Borenstein explained at a Wednesday news briefing that these areas are required “to achieve the same test positivity rate or better than the county as a whole in order for our county to move forward into the less restrictive tier.”
Twelve census tracts in SLO County fall below the 25 percentile line, according to the County Department of Public Health.
What does the health equity metric mean for SLO County?
Borenstein did not specify the testing positivity rate of any specific census tracts, but she did say SLO County was better off than other California counties in terms of health equity.
“I’m happy to report that our county is one of a limited number of counties that is meeting the requirement for the health equity metric,” Borenstein said at a Wednesday news briefing.
San Luis Obispo County has been in the red tier, indicating “substantial” spread, for three weeks as of Tuesday. After three weeks, a county may move to the next tier if all three requirements are met, according to the blueprint.
Tuesday’s data showed the county’s overall testing positivity rate met yellow-tier standards. And Borenstein said the local areas below the 25 percentile are in the orange tier range, just north of yellow tier requirements.
However, the number of new cases per day per 100,000 residents has remained within the red tier requirements.
To get to the orange, SLO County needs an adjusted case rate of 3.9 cases per day per 100,000 population, or an average of around only 13 new cases per day. Right now, its adjusted case rate is at 5.1.
The county also needs to maintain an overall testing positivity rate below 4.9%. As of Tuesday, the overall rate was 1.9%.
However, it will only be able to move into the orange if the Paso Robles census tract on its own maintains a testing positivity rate below 4.9%.
The same three metrics will be evaluated when moving into the yellow.
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 1:08 PM.
