Orange County, California’s COVID-19 cases have been steadily dropping. This week, the county met two out of three metrics needed before it could drop from the purple tier to the more relaxed red tier.
The share of COVID-19 tests coming back positive countywide and among hard-hit neighborhoods have both met the red tier goals for the past two weeks. The third metric, the rate of new COVID-19 cases by population, was just barely above the red tier threshold.
The county’s case rate was 11.9 per day per 100,000 residents last week. As of Tuesday, the rate was 7.6. A rate of 7 per 100,000 is needed to move into the red tier. The outlook is good that a rate of 7 could be reached next week.
All three metrics must then stay in their red tier ranges for two consecutive weeks for the tier to actually change. In the red tier, restaurants, movie theaters, and other indoor businesses could reopen with masking and physical distancing in place, which will be a good step for Downtown Disney District.
Orange County was in the red tier for a few weeks last fall before moving back into the purple tier in mid-November. A bill was recently passed in favor of Disneyland Resort reopening in the orange tier, or tier 3, after purple and red.
