Napa County Still In Purple Tier Despite Bay Area Stay-Home Order
NAPA COUNTY, CA — Napa County continues to experience a substantial number of new coronavirus cases per day, with 345 new cases reported since Friday for a total of 3,733 cumulative cases since the onset of the pandemic. Two deaths were reported Monday in Napa County following one death last week.
Napa County officials say they are "currently reviewing the Governor’s announcement about Regional Shelter At Home Orders, which takes place when there is less than 15% capacity in Intensive Care Units in the region."
Several Bay Area counties and cities — including Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco and Marin counties —announced a new stay-home order that went into effect this week despite intensive care unit capacity being above the state's 15 percent threshold for such an order.
As of Tuesday, around 25 percent of ICU beds across the Bay Area were available.
Napa County had 34 percent of ICU beds available Monday.
The new order adopted this week by several Bay Area counties requires most nonessential businesses to temporarily stop all operations.
The projected date Napa County may need to make changes to its health order is Dec. 14, however, "this is fluid and subject to daily review by the State. County staff is working to update our website and frequently asked questions to respond to the public information requests we have received," county officials said.
The statewide order divides California into five regions, with Napa County in the Bay Area region. Should the region as a whole fall below 15 percent available ICU beds, the statewide order would kick in.
Until then, Napa remains in the purple tier unless county officials decide otherwise. Being in the purple tier means a 10 p.m. nightly curfew. The order expires after 5 a.m. Dec. 21 and applies to work, movement and gatherings that are not essential. Officials hope to curtail social activities that might cause people to lower their inhibitions, and remove masks or fail to maintain six feet of distance from others.
Coronavirus Exposure Rates In Napa County
As of Friday in Napa County, the most common type of exposure based on cases with completed interviews was household contact to a case (48 percent). Next was community spread of unknown origin (24 percent), followed by gatherings or travel with friends and extended family (14 percent).
A similar percentage of cases was found among men (50 percent) and women (49 percent). Gender was unknown for 1 percent of cases.
The average age increased from 37 to 40 years. Those in their 30s represented the highest proportion of cases (20 percent) followed by those in their 20s (18 percent). For cases with known race/ethnicity, the largest proportion identified as Hispanic/Latinx (50 percent).
There was an average of 1.2 close contacts per case, resulting in about 443 new close contacts.
The proportion of cases who could not be reached or refused to answer was about 10 percent.
This article originally appeared on the Napa Valley Patch
