About 9,000 of California’s 11,000 schools are open or on track to open as 400,000 educators have received at least their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday at an elementary school in Alameda.
Newsom also announced that 47 of the state’s 58 counties were out of the most restrictive level on the state’s reopening tier system as of Tuesday, following a months-long drop in new Covid-19 cases. The only counties that remained in the purple tier Tuesday were Glenn, Inyo, Kern, Nevada, Yuba, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, and Kings.
The majority of the state was in the red, or “substantial” tier Tuesday. Four counties were in the orange, “moderate” tier and Alpine County was the only one in the yellow “minimal” tier.
Under the state’s guidelines, schools can offer in-person instruction after remaining out of the purple tier for 14 days. Schools in counties in the purple tier may offer in-person instruction to kindergarten and elementary students as long as the “average adjusted case rate” is below 25 cases per 100,000 population per day in that county, and they file a Covid Safety Plan.