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California no longer has “high” community levels of coronavirus transmission, according to data published Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
State epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan credited widespread adaptation of health orders and California’s impressive vaccination rate — about 68% of the state’s residents are now fully vaccinated — as factors in driving case rates down in the face of delta. As of Tuesday night, California is the only state that has fallen into this category, as has Puerto Rico. The CDC’s scale evaluating coronavirus transmission levels categorizes states as being in one of four tiers: the worst — high — is color-coded as red; followed by substantial (orange), moderate (yellow) and low (blue), according to The Los Angeles Times.
The trend in new weekly coronavirus cases headed into last weekend suggests a notable decline in recent weeks, which could bring eventual relief to areas like the Central Valleyand rural Northern California, where many hospitals are still overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.