Schools and businesses in Orange County may reopen in the next two weeks, as the O.C. was removed from the state's COVID-19 monitoring list Sunday.
The county will need to maintain a coronavirus case rate below 100 cases per 100,000 residents for the next 14-days, for in-class instruction, and the state's health officer has to authorize any reopening. The 14-day coronavirus case rate per 100,000 O.C. residents stands at 90.2.
Orange County was added to Gov. Newson's watchlist in June, and a mandated a statewide mask policy was instituted on June 18. The OC Sheriff said he wouldn't enforce it. Newsom said he would withhold funding from California counties who don't heed COVID-19 rules.
On Saturday, O.C.'s seven-day testing positivity rate stood at 5.4% — well below the state's required 8%.
The county reported a total of 45,954 coronavirus cases and 897 deaths attributed to COVID-19 as of Monday.
