El Dorado County officials hope to soon move into less restrictive reopening tier
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — With coronavirus spread trending lower in the last few weeks, El Dorado County officials are hoping to move into a less restrictive business reopening tier in late September.
Officials said the county must remain below four new cases per day average along with test positivity below 5% over the most recent two consecutive seven-day periods.
On Monday, the county reported 16 new virus cases, four in the Lake Tahoe region, and 21 assumed recoveries from Saturday through Monday with a test positivity rate of 2.5%. There are 116 active cases, one residents is in intensive care and there have been two deaths. The Tahoe region has had 442 of the county’s 967 cases.
The state used data from Aug. 5-11 and Aug. 12-18 to determine the county is in the red, substantial restriction tier. The first week fell within the red tier.
“The state requires that a county remain in the assigned tier for three weeks before moving to a less restrictive tier and as long as the number of cases and test positivity percentage meet that less restrictive tier’s requirement during the most recent two weeks,” said County Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams. “The state further clarified that if only one of the two criteria is met to move to a less restrictive tier, a county must remain in the more restrictive tier until it meets both criteria.”
County officials are asking residents and visitors to continue to follow the state’s mandates for face coverings, avoid large gatherings, remain at least six feet from others outside your household and wash your hands.
“The best and easiest way to help ensure we move to the orange tier in the week of Sept. 21 is for residents and visitors to continue to follow the state’s mandates,” Williams said.
For information about the county’s tier status, visit here, start typing ‘El Dorado’ in the county box and select it from the drop-down list. Then, either click on ‘Get Latest Status’ to see restrictions on the full list of activities, or enter a specific type of business or activity of interest in the ‘Activity’ box. Finally, either scroll down for the entire list or click on the ‘Get Latest Status’ button.
Learn more about the tiers here.
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