Five counties move out of most restrictive purple reopening tier

Five more counties have been moved out of the most restrictive level on the state’s reopening tier system since last week amid a weeks-long drop in the number of new Covid-19 cases.

Humboldt, Shasta, San Mateo, Marin and Yolo counties were moved from the purple, or “widespread” tier to the red, or “substantial” tier, bringing the total number of “red” counties to nine. Two counties — Sierra and Alpine — were in the orange, or “moderate” tier as of Tuesday.

Most of the state remains in the purple tier, however. Those 47 counties represent 867 school districts, 1,240 charters and 5,859,664 students — about 96.5% of the state’s total enrollment.

Under the state’s guidelines, schools can offer in-person instruction after remaining out of the purple tier for 14 days. Schools in counties in the purple tier may offer in-person instruction to kindergarten and elementary students as long as the “average adjusted case rate” is below 25 cases per 100,000 population per day in that county, and they file a Covid Safety Plan.