SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — California has rejected San Diego County's request for a tier adjustment after the region was moved into the state's purple reopening tier.
The county said that "San Diego’s increased cases are not due to the sectors impacted by moving into a more restrictive tier. County has interviewed cases to identify potential exposure settings and tracked community outbreaks."
County health officials say businesses that will be impacted by purple tier restrictions saw the following breakdown of COVID-19 cases in October:
- Restaurant/bars: 7.4% of COVID-19 cases (715 of 9,646)
- Retail: 6.6% of COVID-19 cases (636 of 9,646)
- Places of worship: 1.9% of COVID-19 cases (184 of 9,646)
- K-12 schools: 1.7% of COVID-19 cases (165 of 9,646)
- Gyms: 0.4% of COVID-19 cases (39 of 9,646)
In reference to October's data, the county said that, "outbreak data also show these sectors make up a small percentage of the cases overall ... Penalizing the impacted sectors for case increases is wrong, as these sectors continue to do the right things, while trying to weather the ongoing pandemic and the back and forth of re-openings."
The county pointed to many local restaurants as an example of improving its mitigation efforts and investing in materials to make their settings safe for visitors, adding, "additionally, the closure of indoor restaurants, especially during the wintertime where outdoor dining is not optimal, will move individuals into homes and encourage gatherings, which is one of the high-risk areas for cases."
Despite the request, the state decided on Sunday that the county will remain in the more restrictive purple tier.
COUNTY'S EXPOSURE DATA (Oct. 25 - Nov. 7)
According to county public health officials, between Oct. 25 and Nov. 7, there were a reported 5,576 COVID-19 cases.
Of those cases, 3,833 cases were interviewed for contact tracing and 2,260 cases reported at least one of the potential exposure settings:
- Restaurant/bars: 389 cases
- Beach: 10 cases
- Casinos: 20 cases
- Group gatherings: 159 cases
- Gyms: 18 cases
- Hair salon or barber: 97 cases
- Places of worship: 118 cases
- Protest: 0 cases
- Retail: 308 cases
- Work: 1,314 cases
- Other: 158 cases
The county says 1,573 of the 3,833 cases reported no potential exposure settings.
Of all the cases between Oct. 25 and Nov. 7, the county says that people reported the possible exposure settings:
- Household exposure: 1,311 cases
- Travel-related exposure: 814 cases
- Any education-related exposure: 172 cases
Through Nov. 7, San Diego County has reported a total of 60,169 COVID-19 cases and 908 deaths from the virus.