After the confusion that followed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement of a new reopening plan, officials said Monday that Orange County schools are now on track to reopen Sept. 22 — provided the county continues to meet the state’s requirements.
Newsom last week unveiled California’s guidelines for reopening businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic, detailing a color-coded, four-tier system that replaced the state’s old county watchlist.
With COVID-19 activity widespread, Orange County is currently in the purple tier, which is the most of restrictive stages outlined by state officials.
“If Orange County meets the criteria for the Red Tier on September 8th, they will be moving into that tier,” the California Department of Public Health told KTLA.
That would kickstart a 14-day countdown for schools to reopen for in-person instruction, officials said. The decision to reopen would ultimately lie with schools and districts.
Under the old system, Orange County — having gotten off the watchlist Aug. 23 —would have seen schools reopen about two weeks earlier, if it had managed to keep its 14-day coronavirus case rate below 100 cases per 100,000 residents.
Now, once on the red tier, the county will need to keep its daily new coronavirus cases below 7 per 100,000 residents and maintain a percentage of positive tests below 8% for 14 days. On Tuesday, those numbers stood at 5.6 cases per 100,000 residents and 5%, respectively, according to the county health department.
Once schools reopen, they must follow the state’s coronavirus safety guidelines, CDPH officials said.
Elementary schools in counties on the purple tier can still apply for waivers to reopen from the local health department. So far, Orange County has allowed 70 schools to reopen for in-person instruction. A full list of schools can be found here.
Following Newsom’s announcement of the new system, Orange County Health Officer Dr. Clayton Chau initially said schools were still on track to reopen after Labor Day weekend. The health agency later said they’ve requested clarification from the state and that they were one of several counties left “in limbo.”
Newsom said the new reopening plan would mean businesses reopening at a slower, more gradual pace that before, declaring: “We’re going to be more stubborn this time.”
Orange County has reported a total of 48,825 coronavirus cases and 988 deaths attributed to COVID-19 as of Tuesday.
