Kern County moves into orange tier

The state of the pandemic in Kern County is moving in the right direction as the county entered the orange tier this week.

Everyone is requested to continue wearing masks and maintaining safe social distancing, Director of Public Health Michelle Corson said.

The state also announced that a total of 4 million vaccine doses have been administered to people living in the lowest quartile of the state and because of that, the state has a new case-rate threshold within the Blueprint Tier Framework.

In addition, in a televised broadcast held by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, April 6, Newsom said the state will be doing away with the four-tier system June 15 and the state should be able to resume most of the pre-pandemic activities within reason.

This move to the orange tier means that businesses may now have 50% occupancy and indoor dining changes to 50% occupancy as well.

The orange tier also means that there are fewer restrictions and increased capacity on some businesses such as fitness centers and restaurants. Counties that reach the orange tier could also see the opening of bowling alleys, bars and indoor pools.

“Office workers are encouraged to continue teleworking but opening indoor with restrictions is allowed,” Corson added.

Superintendent of the Wasco Union Elementary School District Kelly Richers said that eighth graders will return to the classrooms May 24 and the district will hold in-person graduations on May 27.

At the time of this story, the Wasco Union High School District has not replied for comment.

For Tuesday, April 6, Wasco had 5,350 infected, 2,175 recovered and 2,699 assumed recovered. These numbers compared to those of March 30 of infected at 5,317.

For the same period in Shafter, the number of infected was 3,506, with a comparison of 3,494 infected the week of March 31. There were also 1,372 recovered on April 6 and 2,015 presumed recovered.