Merced County will stay on red tier another week, but COVID-19 data continues to worsen
Merced County will remain on red Tier 2 for reopening for another week, state health officials said Wednesday, despite worsening COVID-19 infection numbers.
Under California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, counties on the red tier like Merced can allow limited indoor service for restaurants, churches, fitness clubs and other businesses as a hedge against spreading the novel coronavirus.
To get into or remain in Tier 2, a county must have a seven-day average rate of seven or fewer daily new cases per 100,000 residents, and have no more than 8% of residents tested over a seven-day span testing positive for the virus.
Also on Wednesday, another Merced County resident died after contracting the virus, Department of Public Health confirmed.
To date, 161 county residents have died due to the pandemic. Five of those fatalities were reported this week.
The five deaths reported this week — while still below the numbers reported during the peak summer months of the virus — show the data is trending away from the decreasing fatalities reported in recent weeks.
The most recently deceased individual was a male, age 65 or older, with underlying health conditions prior to death.
A new COVID-19 outbreak was also reported by County Public Health on Wednesday at Nutrien Ag Solutions in Merced. Known active outbreaks currently number 13 countywide.
Active outbreaks are defined as three or more unrelated laboratory confirmed cases linked to a workplace facility within two weeks. Skilled nursing facilities, due to the high risk setting, require just one case to be listed as having an outbreak.
Outbreaks are closed when there are no new cases at the facility for a two weeks.
Active hospitalizations of residents on account of severe COVID-19 cases grew by two patients to 32, with just eight hospitalized locally. Residents having ever been hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased to 717.
Wednesday’s new COVID-19 cases also spiked to 61 — the highest single day increase since Sept. 4.
A total of 9,880 Merced County residents have now tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Of those total cases, infections presumed to currently be active increased to 465, marking the highest active case count since Sept. 18.
Active cases are an estimate calculated via the number of new positive COVID-19 tests during the last two weeks. Rising active cases indicate an increase in residents testing positive.
More on the tier system
Rising positive cases are also reflected in the county’s growing testing positivity, which increased to 3.4% on Wednesday. Testing positivity refers to the percentage of residents screened for COVID-19 during the past week whose results return positive.
The metric is one of the crucial data points looked at by the state to categorize counties into one of four tiers with varying levels of reopening rules.
Merced County during recent weeks has been in red Tier 2, considered the second strictest tier, which is labeled as having substantial risk of COVID-19 transmission.
On Wednesday, Merced County’s new-case rate was reported by the state at 5.2 per 100,000 residents based on data for the week ending Oct. 24.
Failing for two straight weeks to miss one or both of those marks can result in a county being reassigned back into the more stringent purple Tier 1.
Among the notable limitations under Tier 1 – denoting “widespread” risk of viral spread – are that restaurants are only allowed to offer to-go, delivery or outdoor dining; churches and other houses of worship are limited to outdoor services; and fitness clubs are barred from using their indoor facilities.
Neighboring Stanislaus and Fresno counties also were assigned to red Tier 2 for another week by the state, while Madera and Tulare counties remain in purple Tier 1.
Mariposa County is the only Valley county in yellow Tier 4, the least restrictive level of the state’s blueprint representing “minimal” risk of transmitting the virus in the community. When the blueprint was introduced in late August, Mariposa County started in orange Tier 3, denoting “moderate” risk of transmission.
The state’s next update of county tier assignments will come next Tuesday, Nov. 10, and will be based upon case and testing data for the seven-day period ending Oct. 31.
To advance into the next stage, counties are required to bring both their rates of new cases and percentages of positive tests to fewer than four per 100,000 residents and less than 5% of residents’ COVID-19 tests showing a positive result for infection by the virus.
A county must meet the orange tier requirements for two weeks before moving into that stage.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 5:45 PM.
