Newport Chamber CEO Says OC Can Move Into Red Tier Within Two Weeks

On Thursday, March 4, Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Steve Rosansky announced via a video sent to Chamber members and other businesses and community members that Governor Newsom has issued revised guidelines for moving through the tiers of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

“Based on the new criteria, once the state has delivered at least two million doses of vaccine to areas of the state that have been disproportionately affected by coronavirus, the Blueprint for a Safer Economy case rate will be adjusted upward to allow for 10 cases per 100,000 as the threshold of moving from the purple tier to the red tier instead of the lower seven cases per 100,000 currently in effect,” said Rosansky in the video.

In order to achieve that goal, and provide more vaccine to the most impacted areas, Rosansky said that “40 percent of the vaccines distributed by the state will go to these vulnerable areas.”

According to Rosansky, that means that the two million doses of vaccine threshold will be reached in one to two weeks.

“Further changes to the Blueprint for a Safer Economy will occur when the state reaches four million doses delivered to the areas most impacted,” said Rosansky.

Since Orange County is already at 7.6 cases per 100,000, Rosansky noted that “one way or another, we will transition to the red tier from the purple tier in the next two weeks.”

Rosansky explained that the state has already delivered 1.6 million doses of vaccine to the vulnerable areas, so “only another 400,000 doses will get us there” he said. “If the state can provide the 400,000 doses within the next week, we could be in the red zone as early as next Friday (March 12). If the rollout is slower than that, we will almost certainly transition the following week, most likely by St. Patrick’s Day.

Either way, said Rosansky, “you should be stocking up on green hats and shamrocks.”

For more information, visit the Chamber’s website at www.NewportBeach.com.