SLO County isn’t moving to red tier of COVID restrictions yet. This is why
San Luis Obispo County will remain in California’s most restrictive reopening tier for at least two more weeks after the county Public Health Department expressed signs that the county could progress this week.
San Luis Obispo County has been under purple tier restrictions under California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy since Nov. 16 — when the county’s case rate exceed the threshold of seven new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people per day for two weeks in a row.
On Feb. 11, county Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein said at a news briefing that the county could move to the red tier this week if the countywide positivity rate and the positivity rate within the most vulnerable census tracks remained below 5% and 5.3%, respectively.
According to Borenstein, a county’s tier is typically determined by its worst metric. However, if two of the three metrics are two tiers down from the worst metric for at least two weeks, then the county can move down a notch on the restrictions, which was the case in San Luis Obispo County last week.
In other words, even though San Luis Obispo County’s case rate was in the purple range, the county could have moved to the less restrictive red tier if the test positivity rate and health equity metric remained in the orange tier range for two consecutive weeks.
While case rate and positivity rate improved Tuesday, the county’s health equity metric — determined by the positivity rate within the areas in the 25th lowest percentage on California’s Healthiest Place Index — worsened, keeping San Luis Obispo County in the purple tier.
“While SLO will not move forward to the red tier this week, our COVID-19 case rate continues to decline,” the county Public Health Department tweeted. “Unfortunately, our test positivity rate has increased among more vulnerable groups, which is why we are not moving forward.”
SLO County coronavirus metrics improve in nearly all areas
Data released Tuesday showed the county’s case rate, positivity rate, active cases and daily increase in cases were on a downward trend, but one key factor held the county back in progress.
The county’s adjusted average was 15.6 new cases per day per 100,000 people, down from 19.3 new cases per day per 100,000 people the week prior. The unadjusted case rate was 29.5 cases per day per 100,000 people, according to the state.
Tuesday’s case rate marked the lowest local adjusted case rate since early December.
As of Tuesday, the county had a 4.3% positivity rate, a slight improvement from the past week’s 4.5%.
The latest health equity metric released Tuesday calculated that the positivity rate for people who live in the 12 census tracts in San Luis Obispo County ranked in the lowest quarter of California’s Healthy Places Index at 5.9%.
Health equity was the only metric that increased, from 4.8% to 5.9%.
How can SLO County reach red tier of COVID-19 restrictions?
San Luis Obispo County could still reach the red tier, even if there is a delay.
According to Borenstein, the county can reach the red tier if all three metrics — case rate, positivity rate and health equity — meet red-tier requirements for at least two consecutive weeks.
Or, progress can be achieved if two of the three metrics are in the orange tier for two consecutive weeks.
Though the county’s chance at moving into the red tier this week was affected by the health equity metric, the case rate has been the most challenging measurement for the county to bring down.
As of Tuesday, the adjusted case rate was 15.6 cases per 100,000 people — greater than the red tier threshold by 8.6 cases per 100,000.
Meanwhile, the health equity metric is one percentage point from an orange tier health equity metric and the county’s positivity rate remains in the orange tier.
“We continue to work hard to improve test positivity across SLO County and among more vulnerable communities here, but we need your help to slow the spread of this disease even further so we can move to the red tier,” the county tweeted.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 5:24 PM.
