Merced County remains in purple tier. But new changes may help lift business restrictions
Local COVID-19 numbers landed Merced County another week in the most restrictive purple reopening tier, according to the state’s Tuesday update.
But it was better news for the the county’s neighbors in Mariposa.
Mariposa County ascended from the red to the orange tier on Tuesday, meaning it is now subject to the second-most lenient of COVID-19 limitations under the four-tier reopening system. The tier is defined as having “moderate” risk for COVID-19 to spread from person to person in the county.
Now in the orange tier, the 50% occupancy cap on retail businesses and shopping centers ceases in Mariposa County. Churches, restaurants, gyms, movie theaters, museums, zoos and other facilities also may open indoors at a higher capacity.
Meanwhile in Merced County, the number of daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents continues to hold it back from advancing to the red tier. Daily cases must fall to seven per 100,000 from the county’s current 14.2.
Until then, inside gatherings and indoor operations of businesses like restaurants and gyms will remain banned.
Changes to state vaccine, reopening plans to help Merced County
Although Merced County remains in purple tier, local Department of Public Health officials say recent changes to the state’s vaccination and reopening plans could help the county advance to the red tier faster.
The state announced last week that modifications to the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy will make it easier for counties to reopen as more of its population is vaccinated against COVID-19. Plus, a new vaccine equity metric will prioritize vaccinating underserved ZIP codes across the state — many of which fall into Merced County’s borders.
California’s most disadvantaged ZIP codes are those defined as falling in the bottom quartile of the “Healthy Places Index,” which measures poverty and other factors like residents’ housing status and education level.
“Almost all of Merced County zip codes are within that lowest quartile, which is not surprising unfortunately,” said Dr. Kristynn Sullivan, Merced County public health supervising epidemiologist and operations chief.
Once 2 million COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed in the state’s most disadvantaged ZIP codes, the required case rate — which is the average number of new daily cases per 100,000 residents over the last seven days — in order to move from the most restrictive purple tier into the less restrictive red tier will change from seven to 10. The test positivity threshold of 8% for the red tier won’t change.
To help get vaccines into those neighborhoods around the state and in Merced County, 40% of doses will be targeted to residents in those areas — many of which have disproportionately born the brunt of COVID-19 cases and deaths, Sullivan said.
“We will get a lot more vaccines,” Sullivan said of the changes. “We’ve consistently had some of the lowest vaccines per capita across the state.”
Merced County Public Health officials and elected officials alike have repeatedly lamented the state’s vaccine distribution plan since the start of the new year, calling out the rollout for disfavoring counties like Merced. The plan has caused a greater share to have gone to areas with higher income and education, as well as better access to transportation.
Sullivan said the shift to prioritize under-serviced communities whose disadvantages were further exacerbated by the pandemic is a step in the direction that Merced County has been advocating for.
The public is encouraged to visit www.vaccinatemercedcounty.com to determine their eligibility and receive vaccination notifications to register for available appointments. Those who don’t have internet access can call the Merced County Public Health Information Line at 209-381-1180 for assistance.
Merced County receives more COVID-19 vaccines
And already, the change is showing. “Our (vaccine) allocation last week was over double what we’d been getting previously,” Sullivan said.
The more than 11,000 COVID-19 vaccines that arrived in Merced County last week are to be administered into recipients’ arms this week.
As more doses roll into Merced County, the community’s daily case rate continues to trend downwards toward the red tier’s currently required number of seven cases per 100,000 residents — but slowly.
Once that required number changes to 10 cases per 100,000 residents, it will be less daunting of a task for Merced County to advance into the red tier.
“(It) will help us because that’s always the thing that keeps us from moving up in the tiers,” Sullivan said of Merced County’s case rates.
In contrast, local testing positivity for several weeks has for been below the 8% benchmark that qualifies Merced County for the red tier.
Improvements to local COVID-19 metrics and subsequent economic reopening is anticipated to speed up as more of the county is vaccinated.
“As we vaccinate more people, that’s going to affect our cases, so we could see a drop,” Sullivan said.
An estimated 5.3% of the county’s roughly 287,000 residents have received doses so far, according to the county’s vaccine dashboard.
Whether life returns to a state of relative normalcy soon largely depends on aggressively rigorous vaccination. For anyone wanting to enjoy a more typical summer, Sullivan said the best thing to make that hope a reality is to get vaccinated.
Latest Merced County COVID-19 numbers
One new COVID-19-related death of a Merced County resident was reported on Tuesday. The pandemic has now taken the lives of 416 community members.
Hospitalizations of severe COVID-19 cases also notably increased by five patients to 24. Regional intensive care unit capacity remained relatively stable though at just above 21%.
An additional 43 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Merced County on Tuesday, raising the tally since the pandemic’s start to 29,600.
Of those total cases, infections deemed to currently be active fell from 902 to 851.
The county’s testing positivity percentage and daily case rate fell to 5.4% and 14.2, respectively.
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 3:53 PM.
