California health official says it’s safe for many schools to reopen, two counties move to purple tier
As Covid-19 cases fluctuate throughout the state, Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s Health and Human Services secretary, said he believes it is safe for schools to reopen if they have met the state’s requirements as it pertains to infection rates. But Ghaly added that he supports decisions by local health and school officials to wait longer than the state requires, if they believe that is in the best interest of their communities.
Ghaly and Dr. Erica Pan, the state epidemiologist, announced Tuesday that Riverside and Shasta counties have moved from the red tier back to the most restrictive purple tier in the state’s four-tiered, color-coded tracking system. This brings the total number of counties in purple up to 12 from 10, including 333 school districts and 590 charter schools that educate more than 2.5 million public school students, not including private schools.
Schools in counties in the purple tier cannot reopen for in-person instruction unless they receive elementary school waivers or adhere to strict guidance for small groups. However, if schools opened while counties were in the red tier and then the county moves back to purple, they do not need to close. Instead, they must increase testing of staff, according to state guidance. Counties must remain in the red tier for at least 14 consecutive days before schools can reopen.
Ghaly said the state plans to work more closely with the Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California that are in the purple tier to help them improve their testing, contact tracing and isolation practices to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in their communities. Pan also announced that Butte and Napa counties moved from the red to less-restrictive orange tier and that San Francisco moved from orange to the least-restrictive yellow tier, in part due to its success in meeting a new health equity metric, which requires counties to ensure their Covid-19 rates are as low in their most disadvantaged areas as they are countywide.
Ghaly also announced new guidance for large and small amusement parks, saying small parks located in counties in the orange tier can reopen at 25% capacity, but counties where large parks are located must reach the yellow tier before the parks can open at 25% capacity. He also released guidance for professional sports, saying outdoor stadiums in counties in the orange tier can open at 20% capacity and those in counties in the yellow tier can open at 25% capacity.
The state plans to release new guidance for youth sports soon, Ghaly said. However, he said it does not anticipate allowing college sports stadiums to open for audiences in the near future.