COVID-19 Update: County returns to purple tier – Businesses to move operations outdoors within 72 hours

The county returned to the most restrictive purple tier Tuesday, Oct. 20 after it was allowed one extra week in the red tier to see if the county could reduce the case rate. The county entered the red tier of the state’s tier system Sept. 22. According to the state’s tier system, purple means the virus is widespread and that many nonessential indoor business operations are closed.
The county announced Tuesday: “The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced today that Riverside County will move back to the state’s purple tier, which is the most restrictive tier that requires several types of businesses and places of worship to move outside. These places will need to change operations to outside only within 72 hours.”
The county explained that it “will need to remain in the purple tier for at least three weeks and meet the red tier metrics for two of those weeks before returning to the red tier.”
Even though Riverside County is testing more residents now per day (195 residents per 100,000) since early September’s 139 residents per 100,000 per day, the statewide testing median is 239 per 100,000 residents per day.
“The return to the purple tier will adversely impact small businesses like restaurants and gyms which were able to provide indoor services in the red tier after having business operations restricted for several months throughout the course of the pandemic,” the county explained in a press release. “The state also announced today that all personal care services were moved into the purple reopening tier and may continue inside operations.”
As of press time, it is unclear as to whether or not Congress will pass another stimulus package in the near future.
According to the Riverside University Health System – Public Health (RUHS) website, the area of Idyllwild-Pine Cove still has a total of 23 reported COVID-19 cases since the outbreak and one death reported. Twenty-one of the 23 people have recovered.
As of press time on Oct. 20, Riverside County has 64,668 confirmed COVID-19 cases. There are 1,273 deaths related to COVID-19 and 58,236 people have recovered. There are 157 individuals being hospitalized and of those 42 are in the intensive care unit (ICU). The county’s positivity rate is 5.2%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 is 9.1.
As of press time on Oct. 13, Riverside County had 62,553 confirmed COVID-19 cases. There were 1,258 deaths related to COVID-19 and 56,659 people had recovered. There were 146 individuals being hospitalized and of those 42 were in the ICU. The county’s positivity rate was 5.0%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 was 7.6.
As of press time on Oct. 6, Riverside County had 60,867 confirmed COVID-19 cases. There were 1,244 deaths related to COVID-19 and 55,397 people had recovered. There were 142 individuals being hospitalized and of those 42 were in the ICU. The county’s positivity rate was 5.0%. The current adjusted case rate per 100,000 was 7.6.
To date, 763,502 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Riverside County, according to RUHS. The two demographics with the highest number of cases are Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic/Latino.
The county is urging residents and visitors to cover their face, keep 6 feet of distance and wash their hands.