The Shasta County Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting at 9 O’clock Thursday morning to discuss the possibility of disregarding the state tier system and its accompanying restrictions. There are doubts among some supervisors and county officials about whether it’s possible to withdraw.
On Tuesday the county has entered the most severe purple tier, and the following restrictions are mandated by this Friday:
— Retail stores and shopping centers can only allow 25% capacity.
— Bars and breweries that don’t serve meals must close.
— No indoor service at all is allowed for restaurants, churches, museums, movie theaters, gyms, fitness centers, cardrooms, bowling alleys and other family entertainment centers. They can only be outdoors.
— Turtle Bay will be closing all indoor areas to the public for at least three weeks.
— Some indoor services are allowed, including hair and nail salons, tattooing, piercing and electrolysis.
Officials had been pleading with the state to avert the tighter restrictions, arguing that recent outbreaks have been mostly attributed to a few sources and the spread has been contained. bethel School of Supernatural Ministry has had another 47 cases since last week, for a total of 321. Windsor Redding Care Center on Court Street has reported positive test results for 25 employees and 75 residents, 21 of whom have died. Still, county officials say there’s no evidence of the disease spreading in the sectors that will face further restrictions, and another closure may be the final straw for many businesses that are already struggling.
Since the start of September, Shasta County’s infection rate has been far beyond the state average. However the latest data, which is from a week ago, shows improvement. The case rate has dropped from 17.6 to 15.5 per 100,000 residents. That’s still in the purple range, but the positivity rate dropped from 8.1% to 5.8%, which is in the red.