All Riverside County COVID-19 hospitalization counts are currently at or below levels reported in April.

Emergency Management Director Bruce Barton told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday that virus-related hospitalizations had “stabled off” over the last month, with the patient count ebbing and flowing between 120 and 140.

Thursday the EMD said 135 are now hospitalized — the same as Wednesday. That figures includes 40 intensive care unit patients, two more than the day before.

All COVID-19 hospitalization counts are currently at or below levels reported in April.

The number of known active cases countywide is 4,359, up 67 since Wednesday. The active count is derived by subtracting deaths and recoveries from the current total of 61,416, according to the county Executive Office. The number of verified patient recoveries is 55,809

the county’s testing positivity rate is now 5%, down a full percentage point compared to three weeks ago.

However, the county is averaging 6.8 positive cases a day per 100,000 population, with an adjusted rate of 7.6 per 100,000 because testing volumes are below the state median for large counties, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Riverside County to avoid being put back into the most restricted Tier 1 this coming Tuesday must be below 7.0 per 100,000 on an adjusted rate or significantly increase the number of tests it performs Countywide.

The current numbers, and the new “equity” component factored into the CDPH’s metrics, would make tier reassignment — from red to orange — under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy out of reach for the county.

However, the board voted Tuesday in favor of a modified approach to reopening economic sectors, adhering to CDPH health safety guidelines but giving county CEO George Johnson authority to relax public health regulations impacting businesses and other entities on a schedule that falls outside the state’s mandates, if he chooses.

The change is expected to expedite the reopening of convention centers and large meeting halls.

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