Culver City Observer -

by Corva Corvax

3/11: The Los Angeles County Health Department announced the high likelihood the county may move from the most restrictive purple tier of Covid-19 restrictions to the less restrictive red tier by March 17, nearly an exact year since lockdowns were first imposed. It will be the first time Los Angeles will move down from the most restrictive purple tier. The move is dependent, however, on how many Covid-19 vaccines are given, statewide, to neighborhoods with the lowest scores in the "Healthy Places Index."

The Healthy Places Index is defined by the California Department of Public Health as "a composite measure of socioeconomic opportunity applied to census tracts that includes 25 individual indicators across economic, social, education, transportation, housing, environmental and neighborhood sectors."

Once 2 million doses of the vaccines are administered in the state to the sectors with the lowest HPI scores, the criteria will change for moving a county from one tier to the next. Previously, Los Angeles County was supposed to maintain a new daily case rate of 7 in 100,000 people over a span of two weeks in order to move down a tier. But once that 2-million-dose mark is met, the county will be able to lower tiers with a daily case rate as high as 10 in 100,000.

LA County's case rate dropped yesterday from 7.2 per 100k people to 5.2 per 100k. If that continues, the region could still move to the red tier even without the HPI credit, although it might take a week longer.

In the red tier, outdoor live concerts and sporting events will be permitted, though limited to 100 people maximum, with reservations required and no food allowed to be sold. In addition, schools would be allowed to open grades 7 - 12 in the red tier, assuming they have the proper plans and protocols set in place. Of course, the teacher's unions would also have to sign on.