Persistent advocacy by CSAC leadership has compelled three
important adjustments to the state’s
Blueprint that benefit counties. Supervisors and County
administrators made a powerful case for accelerated reopening
during last Wednesday’s Kitchen Cabinet meeting with Cabinet
Secretary Ana Matosantos and Government Operations Agency
Secretary Yolanda Richardson. The CSAC Rural Working Group
followed up with a series of local examples and direct requests
during a meeting last Friday with Health and Human Services
Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly.
For small counties with a population less than 106,000, the state
will now apply the “held harmless” adjustment using absolute case
counts and test positivity in place since last October to allow a
county to move to a less restrictive tier. Two consecutive weeks
of good absolute case and testing positivity metrics and three
total weeks in each tier are still required. Previously, the
small county adjustment only applied to a small county in danger
of moving to a more restrictive tier.
For counties entering the red tier, their Health Equity
Quartile HPI census tracts’ test positivity must also be less
than or equal to 8 percent.
For counties entering the orange tier, their Health Equity
Quartile HPI census tracts’ test positivity must be within 5
percent of the orange tier threshold, or less than or equal to
5.2 percent.
For counties entering the yellow tier, their Health Equity
Quartile HPI census tracts must be within 10 percent of the
yellow tier threshold, or less than or equal to 2.2
percent.
