News Update

Seven counties moved from purple to red tier

Seven counties were moved out of the most restrictive level on the state’s reopening tier system on Tuesday amid a weeks-long drop in the number of new Covid-19 cases.

San Francisco, Lassen, Plumas, Santa Clara, El Dorado, Napa and Modoc counties moved from the purple, or “widespread” tier to the red, or “substantial” tier, bringing the total number of “red” counties to 16. Two counties — Sierra and Alpine — remained in the orange, or “moderate” tier as of Tuesday.

The majority of the state — 40 of 58 counties — remained in the purple tier Tuesday. Those 40 counties include 785 public school districts and 1,136 charters serving a total of 5,446,535 students — 89.70% 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.