Although L.A. County has been in the yellow tier for weeks, now Orange County will join them, moving from the orange to the least-restrictive yellow tier in the state's COVID-19 economic reopening plan.
Orange County CEO Frank Kim told City News Service that "based on our calculations, which are unofficial because we have to wait for the state's guidance (Tuesday)," the county will be eligible to reopen in the yellow tier on Wednesday.
The county's case rate per 100,000 residents was 1.5 as of Sunday, the day the state calculates its weekly averages. The state issues its weekly averages on Tuesdays. Overall, the county has a .09% positivity rate, even as lower socioeconomic communities have been hardest hit by the pandemic.
The OC set a goal to reach herd immunity by the Fourth of July, but vaccine hesitancy may prevent the county from getting there.
The Los Angeles Times reports that demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has gone down 75% since April and Orange County has turned down its weekly allocation of vaccine doses from the state -- so that supply would not exceed demand.
Health officials say that it's more likely that the OC reaches herd immunity by Labor Day.
“If we want to get to herd immunity by July 4, we’d need at least 600,000 people in our community to want to get a COVID vaccine between the beginning of this week and July,” Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, a deputy health officer for the Orange County Health Care Agency, said last week.
