San Bernardino County is inching closer to looser coronavirus restrictions as its statistics continue to improve, according to state data released Tuesday (Sept. 15).
Though the percentage of recent tests that come back positive meets the state’s requirements to advance to the next lower tier, the number of new cases per day, adjusted for testing volume, does not. To move to the next tier, a county must meet both requirements for the prior two consecutive weeks. The number of new cases per day per 100,000 residents would have qualified the county to move from the purple to red tier, but because the number of tests conducted is below the average, the state adjusted San Bernardino County’s number upward, disqualifying the week from being the first of three needed to loosen restrictions.
There were 166.3 tests per 100,000 San Bernardino County residents per day the week of Sept. 5, which was used for the information released Tuesday. The state median was 216.4.
San Bernardino County was the 12th-lowest of 58 counties.
Since last week, the county’s case rate fell by 1.1 cases, the adjusted case rate sent down by 1.3 cases, and the test positivity rate went down by 1.1%.
