Photo: SANDY HUFFAKER / AFP Via Getty Images
Beachgoers run out on the Pacific Beach Pier in San Diego, California, on Saturday, July 4, 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic. Many beaches in California were shut down for the fourth of July weekend due to a revival of COVID-19. However, beaches of San Diego area have remained open.
San Diego County was removed from the California state watch list Tuesday after recording an average of less than 100 cases per 100,000 residents for three days, officials said.
The new status does not allow businesses to reopen, but it will allow K-12 schools to welcome students back to personal education campuses with the approval of provincial officials, as soon as Sept. 1. If the province still has two of the list remaining weeks.
Secretary Dr Human Mark Services of California announced the removal of San Diego in a press release Tuesday and generally spoke out against steps counties such as San Diego and Santa Cruz (removed from the list on August 14) have taken to spread the virus. stop.
Ghaly said counties “doing things right” have increased mask use and contact tracking, as well as improved security measures in clinical nursing homes, prisons and jails. “They have identified municipal institutions to keep meetings to a minimum,” he said.
The province came on the watch list on July 5, after the fourth of July weekend when people crossed beaches due to the closure of coastlines to the north.
California’s watch list now stands at 41 counties, which accounts for nearly 97% of the state’s population. Five counties – Amador, Mendocino, Inyo, Calaveras and Sierra – were added to the list on Monday.
The list of changes this week comes after the California Department of Public Health froze the list due to a glitch in the COVID-19 data system. The state did not receive a full count on the number of tests performed for multiple days and in the past week, the department went through records and updated numbers.
Govin Newsom said Monday that the state processed 14,861 positive cases that were in arrears due to the glitch. The average of the 14 days positive – the percentage of people testing positive for the virus of all individuals tested – now stands at 6.5%.
“The positivity level is stabilizing and moving broadly in the right direction,” Newsom said.
The state drew up the watch list to create a system for controlling counties experiencing significant increases in COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates. A province will be added to the list if it has included more than 100 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past 14 days. If a province has included more than 25 new cases per 100,000, and the positivity of the test rate is roughly 8%, it can also be placed on the list.
Counties on the watch list for three straight days or more must close or adjust certain businesses for open operations, including gyms, places of worship, non-essential office routes, shopping malls, and personal care services such as barber shops and nail salons. (Note: All rural provinces were ordered a month ago to close bars and indoor operations at restaurants, cinemas, card rooms, museums and zoos.)
Counties for follow-up list are not allowed to open school campuses until they are at least 14 days from the follow-up list.
The watch list is constantly changing based on the latest data available from public health departments.
“This is a dynamic list,” Newsom said. “People are coming in and people are coming down, the numbers are shifting in one week.”
Amy Graff is the new editor for SFGATE. Email her: [email protected].
