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LA County Could Move Into Next Reopening Orange Tier In Early April
A waiter wearing a face mask places a tablecloth while preparing for outdoor dining service in Manhattan Beach, California, November 21, 2020. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP)
Los Angeles County could move from the red tier to the less-restrictive orange tier of the state's coronavirus monitoring framework as soon as early April.
Public health director Barbara Ferrer says that's if people continue to follow safety protocols and the county's coronavirus numbers continue to improve. L.A. County's adjusted case rate is currently 4.1, and must be under 4 to qualify for the orange tier.
According to state guidelines, counties have to stay in a tier for at least three weeks before moving into a less-restrictive tier, and L.A. County moved into the red tier just this week (Wondering what that means? We have a guide for that).
Ferrer says that means we could see a shift in the next two-three weeks:
"It's highly likely [that[ if we continue to make good progress, that next week and the week after, we could have those qualifying rate numbers, but what I want to go back to, with a note of caution, is we have to keep our numbers going down. We can't have any surge in case numbers for these 3 weeks [if we want to move into the next tier]."
For more info about restrictions in each of the state's reopening tiers, take a scroll through this handy PDF.
For some more context, here's the breakdown of tiers, by color:
Screenshot via California's "Blueprint for a Safer Economy"
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