After hitting the proper case rate for the second straight week, Nevada County is one of the last remaining Purple Tier counties finally moving to the Red Tier. That’s the first time we’ve been there since mid-November. The rate’s dropped from nine-point-three to eight, still below the revised threshold of ten. It used to be seven before the state tied tiers to numbers of vaccinations of disadvantaged neighborhoods. County Health Officer, Doctor Scott Kellermann, says vaccinations here are now close to 40-thousand…

Among other things, the Red Tier means indoor dining can legally resume, with up to 25-percent capacity, as well as 10-percent indoor capacity for gyms, and the likely re-opening of movie theatres. Kellermann reminds us that the county is still considered at a “substantial risk of infection”…

And when the state reaches four-million vaccinations for disadvantaged communities, that’ll loosen the case rate for the “moderate” or Orange Tier, from four to six. At the current pace, that would take a little less than two weeks. It would expand indoor dining and movie theatre capacity to 50-percent, as well as allow more indoor entertainment businesses to reopen.