RIVERSIDE COUNTY #’S DON’T MEET YELLOW TIER CRITERIA YET

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The rates of both new coronavirus cases and positive test results dropped in Riverside County, but not enough to see a Yellow-Tier for at least another two weeks, according to state data released Tuesday.

The next step is reaching the yellow tier (the designation with the least restrictions) which requires both a positivity rate less than 2% and a new-case rate of fewer than 2 per 100,000 residents.

Riverside County’s coronavirus positivity rate is 1.9%, compared to 2.1% last week, according to the California Department of Public Health, which also reported on Tuesday the county’s state-adjusted case rate was 3.4 per 100,000 residents. Last week, the adjusted case rate was 3.9 per 100,000.

Both are based on rolling seven-day averages and must be sustained for two consecutive weeks.

Los Angeles is the only county in Southern California to advance to the yellow tier so far.

Entering the yellow tier would allow more attendance at most businesses. In some instances, the designation would double the attendance allowed under the orange tier.

More county businesses opened three weeks ago due to the county entering the orange tier of the state’s four- tier Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

The county had been in the red tier since March 16, after five months in the most restrictive purple tier. California is slated to remove the Tiered System all together June 15th.

Riverside County health officials also reported Tuesday 205 newly confirmed cases on Tuesday, along with a drop in hospitalizations and no new deaths.