Sonoma County Fails to Emerge from State’s Purple Tier

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On Tuesday the state’s weekly analysis of COVID-19 data showed Sonoma County once again falling short of California state thresholds required for the county to move away from the most restrictive Purple Tier. The state data is based on measurements from the week ending on October 17th.

According to state data, Sonoma County’s adjusted overall case rate stood at 10.2 per 100 thousand over a 7 day period, well above the threshold of 7 per 100 thousand required to be eligible to move to the next lowest Red Tier. In addition, the 8.9 percent coronavirus positivity rate (positive cases as a percentage of total tests) among people in the county’s most disadvantaged community (Health Equity Positivity Rate) exceeded the threshold of below 8 percent required to advance to the Red Tier.

In contrast, the county’s overall positivity rate of 5.2 percent was well within the range (below 8 percent) that would qualify for movement to the lower tier.

In response to stubborn case rate numbers and positivity rates in the most highly impacted communities, Sonoma County recently announced a $16 million plan to reach out to the Latinx community and others where case rates remain high. The goal will be to encourage testing and isolation of infected individuals. This will be encouraged through a wide-ranging publicity and information campaign, as well as through financial incentives that would provide approximately $1200 to individuals in low income communities who test positive but cannot afford to isolate.

County health and elected officials say many low wage workers in the county continue to go to work while infected due to financial concerns, enhancing community spread of the virus. In addition, the region’s affordable housing crisis is widely seen as a contributing factor, forcing some families and groups into crowded housing in which an infected person can more easily pass the coronavirus on to others.

Sonoma County is the only one in the Bay Area that has not yet qualified for the less restrictive Red Tier. On Monday, the county’s health officer Dr. Sundari Mase said that an abundance of low wage agricultural workers makes Sonoma County unlike others in the Bay Area. She said a better comparison would be Monterey County, south of the Bay Area, which is also yet to emerge from the Purple Tier.

Like Sonoma County, Monterey County is home to large number of low wage agricultural workers. However that county’s Health Equity Positivity rate as of Tuesday stood at 6.9 percent, which qualifies for movement to the Red Tier. However Monterey County’s overall case rate remains too high to advance.