Los Angeles County will be entering the yellow tier on Wednesday. The hue, the least restrictive of steps in California’s COVID-19 economic recovery plan, had only been reached by four other counties (Alpine, Lassen, Mendocino, Sierra) the last time numbers were updated on California’s Blueprint Data Chart on April 27.
The new public health order with be posted on Wednesday and loosened health restrictions will go into effect on Thursday.
The tier, simply put, per covid19.ca.gov, means that “most indoor business operations are open with modifications”. The orange tier, by contrast, swapped that ‘most’ for ‘some’.
The news comes one day after LA County hit a historic milestone in the pandemic; no new deaths were reported in the countywide for the first time in 410 days.
LA County Public Health Director announced Monday that the move was in the cards, and that the new health order could be posted as soon at Thursday.
The decision comes as the county hit a crucial benchmark in the battle against the virus; the rate of daily new COVID-19 infections has dropped to 1.6 per 100,000 residents, according to new health figures released this week. In order to enter the yellow tier, counties need to hit a rate <2 per 100,000 residents, according to state health guidelines.
7,728,433 vaccine doses have been administered in LA County as of May 3.