Since California’s “Grand reopening” of the economy, L.A. County has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations which would have previously had the county in the most restrictive tier of the “Blueprint for a Safer Economy.”

In the previous system, the “purple tier” was the most restrictive for businesses and residents, and would have had a significant amount of indoor operations closed.

Counties were placed in the purple tier when COVID-19 case rates were above seven per 100,000 residents and with the current average of positive cases, L.A. County has averaged 10 per 100,000 residents.

L.A. would currently be joined by 16 other counties if the old system was still in play.

The “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” was introduced in December 2020, and L.A. County did not move down in tiers until March of 2021. As vaccinations increased in the county, seemingly, positive COVID-19 cases dropped enough for L.A. to begin loosening its business restricitons.

More than 1,000 daily COVID-19 cases have been averaged in the last 10 days, with 1,821 cases being recorded on Tuesday. There have also 522 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19, a number that has almost doubled in the past two weeks.

A COVID-19 metric that has not seen a jump over the last month has been deaths, with five new deaths being reported Tuesday and no more than 20 being reported since the full economic reopening.

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