In his address to the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, March 23, County Health Officer Dr. Clayton Chau detailed the continuation of declining COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, adding that he predicts the county will meet Orange Tier criteria by Wednesday, March 31.

“The three metrics in this county – the case rate per-100K, the positivity rate and the equity metric, which is equity rate in our lowest quartile – continue to drop. That’s good news. We’ve now had these metrics in the Orange Tier for more than one week, so we are now on our second week of the Red Tier. My prediction is that if everything goes well, and all indications say so, we will have three weeks of Red Tier and two week of Orange Tier next week,” Chau explained.

Chau further explained that California makes tier recommendations each Tuesday. A county is able to reopen within the less restrictive tier 24 hours after the state’s recommendation.

If Chau’s prediction is correct, it will be the first time Orange County has reopened in anything lower or less restrictive than the Red Tier since the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy was introduced last summer. 

On Wednesday, March 24, the Orange County Health Agency reported 82 new COVID-19 cases, eight of which were recorded in Irvine. HCA also reported 11 deaths. However, in terms of daily cases, Wednesday marked just the third day in one month that daily cases have been below 100.  

Orange County’s case rate is 3.5 per 100,000 cases, with testing positivity at 2.1%, with a health equity quartile positivity rate of 3.2%, all of which meet Orange Tier metrics to reopen.   

County leaders expressed optimism about reopening more portions of the economy. Within the Orange Tier, businesses like theme parks and bowling alleys would reopen since shutting down last march. Bowling alleys will be able to open at a reduced capacity of 25%.

Theme parks, which were given the green light to reopen more than a year after closing last March, will have several restrictions in place including the limitation of out-of-state visitors. There will also be a 25% capacity for indoor settings, with time limits in place.   

Additionally, within the Orange Tier, the county’s indoor dining capacity would increase from 25% to 50% capacity, or 200, whichever is fewer.  

Weddings, which are also allowed in the Red Tier, but without food and beverage, are now allowed to have 50% capacity, with food and beverage, but indoor receptions are discouraged in the Orange Tier. 

In terms of vaccinations, the Orange County Health Agency has administered approximately 1.1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Of that total, HCA reports 408,443 individuals are fully vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. As of March 25, Orange County had distributed the first-dose to a total of 743,671 individuals, according to Chau.

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