Orange County may have spent its last days in the orange tier. Now, the county looks to move into the yellow tier, as soon as Wednesday, May 19.

This prediction comes from Orange County Health Officer and Director of OC Health Care Agency Dr. Clayton Chau.

Chau’s comments came Tuesday, May 11, during his COVID-19 update at the Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting.

In terms of statistics, Orange County’s COVID-19 rates remain low. Currently, all three metrics — Adjusted Daily Case Rate, Test Positivity Rate, and Health Equity Quartile, are below the 2% threshold needed to meet yellow tier criteria.

Chau added that the county now has one week of credit within the yellow tier. Per guidance from the California Department of Public Health, the county will need at least two weeks within a less restrictive tier in order to advance tiers.

With that, Orange County will have two weeks credit next Tuesday, and will be given approval to move into the yellow tier on May 19.

“We continue to do well, and we will officially move to the yellow tier — the state will announce next Tuesday, if we meet the second week of metrics,” Chau said. “Then, we will be in the yellow tier and then our economy can reopen – based on yellow tier business activity next Thursday.”

Prior to Chau’s comments, hundreds of public speakers came to protest digital vaccination records, which took up more than five hours during the meeting on May 11.

The city clerk estimated there were approximately 500 public speaker requests to address the board, many of whom voiced their disapproval of digital vaccine passports, and disapproval of the current state of emergency.

The focus around the digital vaccination record, which was a product found within the Othena application specifically, has become a recurring trend at the Board of Supervisors meetings over several weeks.

Over the course of several meetings, hundreds of Orange County residents have used their time to address the board to cite anti-vaccination rhetoric, and COVID-19 conspiracy theories .

A clip of 3rd District Supervisor Don Wagner went viral, after a his line of questioning, which he used in an attempt to debunk conspiracies, with the county’s health officer was taken out of context.

However, on Tuesday, May 11, prior to any public comment on Item 10, 1st District Supervisor and Chairman Andrew Do, introduced a motion that would halt all operations regarding any aspect of digital vaccination records through the Othena app.

Still, citing the number of repeated public concerns that the Othena application’s digital vaccination record is an overly-invasive government tracking device, Do reached a limit. 

“We say definitively, today, that Orange County will stop moving ahead in establishing any kind of digital record of any QR code,” Do said. “It is up to our residents to maintain that record, because in the future it may be required for you to participate in some activities – but it is not up to us to maintain that record for you, or make it accessible.”

Do added that the county has done everything in its power to address concerns regarding the invasion of privacy within the Othena application.  

“We have come to the point where the noise around this whole vaccine passport has reached a point that it has become counter-productive — and we have to ask ourselves, in the ease of going into the yellow tier  — and we’re about to open up even more,” Do said. 

Do added that vaccination totals are less than 40% on a national level, emphasizing that vaccination is the key for the local economy to fully reopen.  

“In order to adequately protect all of us as we move into the yellow tier — is what? —  it’s going to be vaccination. We are seeing data that only 34% of our population nationally has been vaccinated,” Do explained. “Experts are saying that getting the remaining 30%+ to now get vaccinated, so that we can reach the herd immunity that we need to get back to normal, it’s going to be difficult.”

Locally, while hospitalizations continue to decline, Orange County reached a grim milestone of 5,000 deaths on Friday, May 7. On Wednesday, May 12, the OC Health Care Agency reported 42 new COVID-19 cases, with six new deaths, bringing the county’s total up to 5,023 accumulative deaths. 

In an interview with Irvine Weekly, epidemiologist Andrew Noymer, Associate Professor of Population Health and Disease Prevention Public Health at UC Irvine, spoke on the issue of vaccine hesitancy both locally and nationally.  

Noymer, who recently explained to Irvine Weekly that COVID-19 vaccines could potentially be better than a cure, does not anticipate any catastrophic consequences as a result of vaccine hesitation in Orange County.

“In short, I don’t think a Manaus, Brazil or India-style meltdown is in the cards for the United States, even if we have another wave – and I do believe we will have another wave, but it won’t be as pronounced as the one we’ve just been through,” Noymer explained.

Noymer said he believes the next wave will come in the Fall or Winter, like most respiratory viruses.

“In the big picture, all of California is doing quite well and the tier system is going away soon. The infatuation with yellow versus orange, at this point, is a little bit ridiculous. We’re going to go through a natural low, like this summer and basically right now and I think people will be like, ‘There’s no COVID around now — I’ll just wait, it just seems like it’s not needed now,'” Noymer said. “The thing is, then, they’re going to have to play catch up in the Fall. Then there will be lines around the pharmacies – and the hospitals.”

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting Irvine Weekly and our advertisers.