As summarized in a previous GT blog post, California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy established criteria for easing and tightening restrictions on the activities of California residents and businesses based on counties’ Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection rates. When the system took effect initially on Aug. 31, the state assigned each county one of four color-coded tiers – Widespread (purple), Substantial (red), Moderate (orange), or Minimal (yellow) – based on two factors: average daily case rate and test positivity rate. To move into a less restrictive tier, a county must meet the criteria for the less restrictive tier for the previous two weeks.

Effective Oct. 6, a third criterion took effect. The California Health Equity Metric is intended to reduce disparities of COVID-19 transmission in disadvantaged communities hardest-hit by the virus and is reportedly the first of its kind at the state level in the nation. The metric has two components.
Continue Reading The Carrot and the Stick: California Becomes First State in the Nation to Condition Business Reopening on Reduced COVID-19 Transmission in Disadvantaged Communities