El Dorado County could move to Orange Tier in one week

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - El Dorado County might be moving down to the Orange Tier of the California reopening plan next week. The county currently meets the three criteria metrics for the less restrictive tier and if current case and positivity levels remain stable the county will shift on March 31.

Every county in California is assigned to a tier based on its positivity rate, adjusted case rate, and health equity metric. Counties must remain in a tier for at least three weeks before moving to a less restrictive tier. Counties must meet the next tier’s criteria for two consecutive weeks to move to a less restrictive tier. If a county’s metrics worsen for two consecutive weeks, it will be assigned a more restrictive tier.

El Dorado County moved from the Purple Tier to the Red Tier on March 3.

As of Monday, the county tier assignment measures:

Adjusted case rate: 3.0 (Orange is 1.0 – 3.9)
Positivity rate: 2.0 percent (Orange is 2.0-4.9 percent)
Health equity quartile positivity rate: 1.9 percent (Orange is 2.2-5.2 percent)

The final two metrics actually meet Minimal/Yellow Tier criteria but the adjusted case rate is still well above it.

In the Orange Tier, indoor capacity levels for restaurants and gyms increase, long with other loosened criteria.