SAN BERNARDINO – (INT) – Health officials are closely watching the county’s COVID-19 positivity rate in hopes of meeting the state’s criteria for easing the further reopening of businesses.

Neighboring Riverside County has reached the red tier or substantial spread of the virus. In San Bernardino County, the purple tier is considered widespread. San Bernardino County is in the purple tier.

Every county in California is assigned to a tier based on its test positivity and adjusted case rate. To move forward, a county must meet the next tier’s criteria for two consecutive weeks. To move from the current purple tier to red, San Bernardino County must show no more than seven new cases per 100,000 residents, and a positivity rate of less than 8%.

San Bernardino County is one week into showing improvement although it has the third-most confirmed COVID-19 cases in California. It has 6.7 cases (per 100,000) and our positivity rate is 5.7%. If those numbers hold steady or improve, the county can move into the red tier.

Counties can be penalized for not meeting testing standards set by the State and held back from moving into the next tier. Health official stress that’s one reason for more testing even if individuals don’t have COVID-19 symptoms.

Story Date: September 28, 2020