Riverside County Moves Back To Purple Tier, Coronavirus Uptick

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Amid an uptick in coronavirus cases in Riverside County, the state has placed the county into a more restrictive public health tier, which means some businesses are ordered to move outdoors or close again.

Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser first delivered the news to the County Board of Supervisors during its Tuesday meeting, and California Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly provided more information during a noon news briefing.

Just last month, Riverside County moved from the state's most restrictive "purple tier" to the "red tier," which allowed for further reopening of the local economy.

On Tuesday, however, the county is now mandated to move back to the purple tier, which means restaurants, gyms, houses of worship, movie theaters, museums and zoos may no longer operate indoors.

Retail and shopping centers can continue operating indoors but with reduced capacity. All personal care services — nail and hair salons, tattoo and waxing salons, and massage businesses — may continue indoors with modifications, Ghaly said.

Per the state, any school that reopened for in-person instruction with a waiver may continue to be operate, however no additional schools may reopen without first applying for a waiver, according to Kaiser.

No public school in Riverside County has applied for a waiver.

Businesses impacted by the tier change have 72 hours to make modifications (move outdoors, close, etc.) per the state, Kaiser said.

Riverside County must remain in the purple tier for at least three weeks, even if numbers improve, before it can progress into the red tier again, Kaiser and Ghaly confirmed.

According to Riverside County Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari, the county's rising COVID-19 case rate is to blame for the backward slide in the state's tiered framework. The county currently has an adjusted case rate of 9.1 infections per 100,000 population, which is well above the threshold of 7 per 100,000, Saruwatari told the Board of Supervisors.

The county's case positivity rate, 5.2 percent, remains below the state threshold of 8 percent, according to Saruwatari.

The number of people getting tested for the virus has risen, but the state wants to see at least 239.21 people tested per 100,000 population, and the county is just short at 195.5 per 100,000, Saruwatari said.

COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising in the county, confirmed Bruce Barton, director of the county's Emergency Management Department, but he said facilities are managing the caseloads.

"This is not a surge; it is an upward trend," Barton told the supervisors.

On Tuesday, Riverside University Health System reported that 157 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 complications. Forty-two of those patients are in ICU.

Ghaly warned that state modeling projects a 46 percent increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations statewide over the next month.

In addition to Riverside, Shasta County also moved backward Tuesday into the purple tier.

In Southern California, Riverside joins Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Imperial counties in the purple tier. Ghaly said the state is committed to working with the three most populous purple counties — Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino — to ensure widespread testing availability and resources for impacted communities, including resources for infected people forced to quarantine.

Saruwatari said the county is working on partnerships with cities and community-based organizations to bring more testing to Riverside County residents, especially in remote and economically disadvantaged areas that may be seeing increased infection rates.

During Ghaly’s news briefing, he announced updated guidelines for theme parks and professional sporting events.

Smaller theme parks in counties designated in the state’s orange tier may reopen outdoor attractions for local visitors at 25 percent capacity or 500 people, which is greater. Local visitors are defined as people living in the same county, according to Ghaly.

Larger theme parks, like Disneyland, may not resume operations until its county moves into the least restrictive yellow tier. Orange County is currently in the red tier. Read more here.

Professional sporting events can begin welcoming fans back to outdoor venues at limited capacity when counties reach the orange tier, Ghaly said. However, fans must live in the county where the event takes place.

In Riverside County, the BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells tennis tournament that is traditionally scheduled in March could theoretically take place even if the county remains in the purple tier, but no fans would be allowed at the event until the orange tier is reached. No major announcements about a 2021 tournament have been released. The highly attended event, which brings millions of tourism dollars to the Coachella Valley, was cancelled in 2020.

Riverside County's coronavirus cases rose by 668 Tuesday to 64,668 from 64,075 cases on Monday. Of that total, 58,236 people have recovered from the illness, according to figures released by Riverside University Health System.

The death toll stands at 1,273, up by one since Monday, RUHS reported.

This article originally appeared on the Banning-Beaumont Patch