A second reassignment this week of COVID-19 restriction levels – triggered by a vaccination cap – has allowed 13 California counties to switch from purple to red.
Friday’s announcement said the counties coming out of the more restrictive layer are: Contra Costa, Sonoma, San Benito, Mendocino, Siskiyou, Colusa, Placer, Amador, Tuolumne, Mono, Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino.
The more flexible restrictions for these counties will take effect on Sunday, March 14.
As the state reached a vaccination benchmark of 2 million people in underserved communities, the limit to move to the red layer was relaxed to a case rate of 10 per 100,000 people, instead of 7 per 100,000.
The reclassification of Contra Costa and Sonoma means that all counties in the Bay Area have moved to the red level (“substantial” COVID risk). On Tuesday, nine counties improved their status, including moving Alameda, Solano and Santa Cruz to the red belt.
For Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Sonoma counties, it was the first change from purple since the color-coded system was introduced in August. Only three counties now maintain an unbroken purple line: Madera, Monterey and Tulare.
Thirty-three counties, representing 65% of California’s population, are now in red and 21 in purple (“widespread” risk). Plumes, Sierra and Mariposa are orange (“moderate” risk) and Alpine is yellow (“minimum”).
Click here to access the state’s official COVID website, including details on what activities are allowed at the various layers.