COVID-19 rates in Orange County are continuing to decline, which means the county could be off the state monitoring list by August 22. However, in order to do so, the county’s COVID-19 rates must remain below monitoring thresholds for at least two weeks.

On August 20, Irvine reported nine new COVID-19 cases within the city, but added that August 19 was the county’s first day below the state’s monitoring thresholds.

Additionally, under the framework of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s July 13 order, which allows local health officers to grant waivers for schools to reopen for in person education, if the county can maintain this downward trajectory within the coming days, it may be able to re-open grades K-6 for in-person instruction.

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Here is today's COVID-19 update from the Orange County Health Care Agency. 🔹 9 cases were reported in Irvine 🔹 429 cases were reported in Orange County 🔹 23 deaths were reported in Orange County, bringing the total to 856 🔹 36,596 cases are estimated to have recovered August 19 was the first day Orange County fell below the State’s data monitoring thresholds. The County needs to maintain this status for three consecutive days in order to be removed from the County Monitoring List. If this trend continues, the County will be off the monitoring list on August 22. Once Orange County has been off the State’s Monitoring List for 14 days all in-person instruction can resume. However, the County is still subject to the Governor’s July 13 order with respect to sector closures. Indoor operations shall remain closed, even when a county is removed from the County Monitoring List, until the State Health Officer modifies the Order and authorizes re-opening. Additional details are available at occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/coronavirus-in-oc. Please continue to do your part to keep yourself and others safe from COVID-19: 🙅 Practice social distancing 😷 Wear face coverings ✋ Wash your hands with soap for 20+ seconds 🚫 Avoid touching your face Additional information and resources 🔗 cityofirvine.org/covid19 🔗 covid19.ca.gov . . . #coronavirus #covid19 #covidupdate #irvine #cityofirvine

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According to a post on the city of Irvine’s Instagram account: “Once Orange County has been off the State’s Monitoring List for 14 days all in-person instruction can resume. However, the County is still subject to the Governor’s July 13 order with respect to sector closures. Indoor operations shall remain closed, even when a county is removed from the County Monitoring List, until the State Health Officer modifies the Order and authorizes re-opening.”

During The Orange County Health Agency COVID-19 update, Interim County Health Officer Dr. Clayton Chau spoke optimistically about the county’s continuing effort to minimize COVID-19 rates in Orange County.

“Yes, our trend is good, our number decreased a bit today even further, and I’m hopeful we continue to do so,” Chau said.

The state is preparing new guidelines for reopening, which Chau expects in the coming days, which will determine how Orange County will move forward.

Chau added that September 6 is now the target date for Orange County reopening. While optimistic about the progress, Chau cautioned the concept of reopening too quickly.

“In terms of my personal recommendation, I think we all learned that the earlier reopening first and second stage brought about transmission,” Chau explained. “If all goes well, September 6 will be the first day, so we have about 2 weeks or so to make some significant decisions.”

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