Monterey County adjudication request to move to red tier of reopening guidelines denied
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION)
UPDATE 11/10/2020 10:30 a.m. Last week, Monterey County officials submitted an application that would allow the county to move to the red tier of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy if approved, but it has been denied.
The County argued that a significant number of manually reported COVID-19 lab reports from residents living in the 4th quartile of the Health Places Index Census tracts were not included when calculating the health metric.
The California Department of Public Health said it denied the request because it needs to validate lab reports through electronic reporting and confirm addresses.
“While the decision is disappointing, CDPH’s ruling will not distract us from focusing on strategies to reduce COVID-19 transmission and improving Monterey County’s Blueprint metrics,” states Dr. Edward Moreno, Monterey County Health Officer and Director of Public Health.
The county will remain in the purple tier, so there will be no changes in regards to business requirements.
PREVIOUS STORY: Monterey County officials say they have submitted an application with the state that would allow the county to move to the red tier of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
The California Department of Public Health considers requests for adjudication of tier assignments if there is a data discrepancy that is large enough to affect tier status or if there are qualitative and contextual elements provided by the county.
Read more about adjudication requests here.
The county filed an adjudication request Wednesday for the week of Oct. 25. Officials said a significant number of reported negative COVID-19 lab reports from the 4th Quartile Healthy Places Index Census tracts were not included in the state's calculation of the Equity metric.
A state health officer will review the application and make a decision. If the request is approved, the Equity metric would be lowered enough for Monterey County to move to the red tier. If it is denied, Monterey County will stay in the purple tier.
Read more about the activities and businesses requirements for each tier assignment.
If the county moves to the red tier, restaurants, gyms, movie theaters, places of worship, aquariums and zoos would be allowed to open indoors with modifications and limited capacity.
A decision is expected by Nov. 9.
