This statement can be attributed to Dr. Nancy Williams, El Dorado County Public Health Officer:
“Today, Governor Newsom’s Administration announced it has assigned El Dorado County to the COVID-19 Red/Substantial tier based on positive cases per 100,000 population during the week ending October 31st. We have been operating in the Orange/Moderate tier since September 21st, 2020.
“Our seven-day average daily case rate jumped from 4.2 per 100,000 to 5.8 per 100,000 during this time, underscoring the need for all of us to be more diligent about following the State’s guidance about face covering and gatherings with people who aren’t part of one’s household.
“Today, the County will use the State’s adjudication process to make a case to remain in our current tier. We moved through a similar spike in cases over the summer and since we are not seeing a rise in the other areas the State considers when making its tier assignments, I am advocating for El Dorado to stay in the Orange tier.
“Our adjudication request will be considered by the State and we will learn whether it is accepted no later than next Tuesday, November 17th. Our assignment will remain as the Orange tier until we receive word from the State, at which time we will announce the outcome.
“If our adjudication is denied and we are placed in the Red tier, the primary impact will be on restaurants, bars, wineries, and churches. These establishments will have to reduce indoor capacity from 50 percent to 25 percent. Hair salons, barber shops and personal services may remain open indoors with modification.
“Now more than ever it’s important to minimize mixing and get-togethers with people outside your household, wash your hands and wear face coverings. These are the personal actions that will bring our case numbers back into the Orange tier and eventually into the even less restrictive Yellow tier.
“I know it’s been a long seven months since the initial guidance to stay at home except for essential reasons and the following guidance to take personal responsibility and I recognize people are getting weary and hoping things will go back to pre-COVID lifestyles. Restrictions are much less strict than they were earlier in the pandemic. The focus is now on only restricting those industries that pose the greatest risk. Even then, we all recognize that any restriction also causes some degree of emotional or financial hardship.
“Therefore, I can’t stress enough that if we want to get back to the Orange tier or even the Yellow tier, our individual actions will make all the difference. If everyone wears a face covering, keeps physical distance from others, washes their hands frequently, stays home when sick, and reduces gatherings with people they don’t live with, we can get back to the Orange tier.”