As San Bernardino County vaccinates more people and COVID-19 slows, the county is getting closer to entering the yellow — or least restrictive — tier of the state’s coronavirus reopening plan. The county reported 42 new COVID-19 cases and seven deaths Tuesday. Eighty-three patients were hospitalized. The County is meeting two out of three criteria to move into the yellow tier. While the county’s overall positivity rate and positivity rate in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods are now low enough to enter the yellow tier, if they stay that low, the number of new cases per 100,000 people, adjusted for the number of coronavirus tests, remains above the state’s threshold to enter the yellow tier. The test positivity rate for the county fell to 1.7%, below the 2.0% needed, and the test positivity rate in disadvantaged neighborhoods dropped to 1.8%, below the needed threshold of 2.2%. But the county is still stuck in the orange, or moderate, tier because of its case rate: 3.0 new cases per day per 100,000 residents. The county would need to get that number below 2 for two consecutive weeks to move into the yellow tier. At 3.0, it’s the lowest it’s ever been since the system was put in place. The County has resumed giving the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and plans to work with schools to voluntarily distribute vaccines to students. The Pfizer vaccine, which currently can be given to people 16 or older, is expected to get approval within about a week for use in children 12 and older.
