LA County officials expect to get out of the strictest tier in the state's coronavirus reopening system as early as next week.
"It is highly likely we will become eligible for the red tier maybe before the middle of next week," says Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. "We are working with Board of Supervisors and all of our sectors to plan for what will be a sensible and safe reopening as permitted by the state but as appropriate for our county."
It's unclear if local officials plan to immediately lift all the restrictions possible.
In the less-restrictive red tier, students in grades 7 through 12 could return to in-person instruction, movie theaters could reopen and indoor-dining could resume.
Ferrer points to a study recently released by the CDC that finds on-site dining is associated with increases in cases and deaths. She says it's something officials here will need to "take into account" when deciding whether to allow indoor dining again.
Ferrer's celebrating the fact that the county's daily case rate is back down to pre-winter surge levels.
"But it's critically important to remember that continuing declines are not inevitable," she says.
She notes other states are starting to see increases and "LA County does not exist in a bubble."
"So we can't afford to be complacent in our collective efforts to slow transmission," she says.
For now, the county's estimated transmission rate is holding below 1, which indicates we continue to slow the spread.