L.A. Goes To Yellow Tier

It was one of the hardest-hit counties in the nation at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. But now, Los Angeles County has moved to the least-restrictive Yellow Tier in California Governor Gavin Newsom’s color-coded tiered ranking system.

 

Weekly statistics released by the State of California Public Health Department on Tuesday May 4th showed Los Angeles County’s rate of daily new COVID-19 infections had fallen to 1.6 per 100,000 residents.

 

Reaching the Yellow Tier of the State’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy requires a county to have a new-case rate less than 2 per 100,000 residents, and maintain that level for two consecutive weeks. Los Angeles is the only Southern California to advance to the Yellow Tier.

 

The rest of the region, including Riverside and San Bernardino Counties will remain in the Orange Tier. Entering the Yellow Tier will primarily allow higher capacity limits at most businesses.

 

Under state guidelines, fitness centers, cardrooms, wineries and breweries, for instance, could increase indoor attendance to 50% of capacity, up from the current 25%; bars could open indoors at 25%; outdoor venues such as Dodger Stadium could increase capacity to 67%, up from the current 33%; and amusement parks could allow 35%, up from 25%.

 

Counties are permitted to impose tougher restrictions than the state allows, and Los Angeles County has done so occasionally during the pandemic. But Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Monday the county plans to largely align with state Yellow-Tier guidelines.