NEVADA COUNTY, Calif. April 6, 2021 – Nevada County is not one of the 16 counties advancing into a less restrictive tier today. The latest CDPH update shows an increase in daily cases to an average of 12.7 which starts the clock for sliding back into the most restrictive Purple Tier.

“If a county’s metrics worsen for two consecutive weeks, it will be assigned a more restrictive tier,” according to the Blueprint for a Safer Economy state website. With state data used to determine tier status lagging seven days behind real-time, next week’s update could set us back substantially and impact businesses again.

Demographics of new cases

Data courtesy NCPH

For the past five weeks, Seniors 65 and over have declining case rates, largely due to progress in immunizations and no new cases in Long Term Care Facilities.

Other age groups show increasing cases, the 50-64 group (approximately 25,000 residents) leading the cases by age with 952 cases total. Possible causes for the increase range from event-type indoor dining/large gatherings to decreased social distancing.

Data courtesy NCPH

All ages 50 and over are eligible to be vaccinated right now at one of the providers listed on the county’s vaccine provider website.

Nevada County residents age 16 and older are eligible to be immunized at the county’s Public Health clinic.

To date, 50,680 doses have been administered to Nevada County residents (total includes both first and second doses.)

One bright spot is the test positivity rate, currently at 4.3% which is aligned with the current Red Tier classification.

72.7% of all cases are in western Nevada County since the start of the pandemic a little over a year ago. Since the beginning of 2021, that number has increased to 78.8% with only 338 cases in the Truckee area out of 1,596 cases.

Vaccines administered and latest state update

This morning, state health officials announced that 4 million doses have been administered in the HPI quartile 1 and over 20 million doses throughout the state.

The new case rate, test positivity, and health equity metric thresholds are as follows:

June 15 target for California

On June 15, California will fully open its economy if two criteria are met:

  • If vaccine supply is sufficient for Californians 16 years and older who wish to be inoculated; and
  • If hospitalization rates are stable and low

Everyday activities will be allowed and businesses can open with common-sense risk reduction measures, including encouraging all Californians to get vaccinated and mandating masking, to prevent illness and promote health. The state will continue contact tracing and testing to detect cases early and contain spread of the virus. The entire state will move into this new phase as a whole. The state will monitor hospitalization rates, vaccine access and vaccine efficacy against variants, with the option to revisit the June 15 date if needed.

When California fully reopens the economy, the state will move beyond the Blueprint for a Safer Economy. Common-sense health measures such as masking will remain across the state. Testing or vaccination verification requirements will remain in relevant settings. Additionally:

  • All sectors listed in the current Blueprint Activities and Business Tiers Chart may return to usual operations in compliance with ETS/Cal OSHA and other statewide agency guidelines and standards with limited public health restrictions, such as masking, testing, and testing or vaccination verification requirements for large-scale higher-risk events. In addition, the following restrictions apply (via a narrow public health order): 
    • Unless testing or vaccination status is verified for all attendees, conventions will be capped at 5,000 persons until October 1.
    • International convention attendees will only be allowed if fully vaccinated.
  • Schools and institutions of higher education should conduct full-time, in person instruction, in compliance with Cal/OSHA emergency temporary standards and public health guidelines.
  • Workplaces promote policies that reduce risk, including improved indoor ventilation, and mask wearing in indoor and other high-risk settings as well as remote work when possible without impacting business operations.
  • Californians and travelers will be subject to any current CDPH and CDC travel restrictions.

California will also need to maintain the public health and medical infrastructure in these five priority areas:

  1. Continue to provide vaccinations and be prepared for the vaccination of Californians under 16 years old. It is critical that vaccines remain effective against circulating strains.
  2. Conduct equity-focused monitoring and surveillance by maintaining adequate testing capacity and strategies for the early detection of cases including variants via genomic sequencing.
  3. Contain disease spread through timely investigation of cases, contacts, and outbreaks.
  4. Maintain a statewide plan to scale up resources for isolation or quarantine.
  5. Monitor hospital admissions and maintain adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and healthcare surge capacity that can be easily mobilized.