And then there were just two.
As
of March 9, Inyo and Merced counties are the only two in
California not yet eligible to play outdoor athletics due to excessive
COVID-19 numbers.
On Feb. 19, the
state set the weekly threshold at 14 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents for
counties to be eligible to compete in "high-risk" outdoor youth sports,
including football, even if that county is in the red or purple tier.
Gov.
Gavin Newsom made that announcement that day for new guidelines. Low
risk sports such as cross country, golf and tennis have been in action
since early February. Less than half of the counties met that threshold then, but now 56 of the 58 counties do.
Two counties moved below the threshold this week, Stanislaus went from 15.7 to 13.6 and King's improved from 16.0 last week to 11.9 this week.
Some
of the largest counties that just two weeks ago were hovering above the
threshold are now considerably below, including Los Angeles (5.2),
Orange (6.0) and San Diego (8.8). Only 10 that currently meet the 14.0 threshold are
above 10.0. San Francisco (2.8) leads all large metropolitan California cities.
Of the 56 to qualify, 25 counties now meet the 7.0 and below threshold in order to avoid required COVID-19 testing.
Once
a county reaches the 14.0 threshold it is eligible throughout the rest
of the school year, even if those numbers jump back up above 14,
according to the new guidelines.
Football seasons begin Friday throughout the state, though most squads will begin the week of March 19-20.
Counties that reached the threshold: Alpine
0.0, Sierra 0.0, Mariposa 0.8, Plumas 0.8, San Francisco 2.8, San Mateo
3.0, Lassen 3.8, Mendocino 3.9, Yolo 4.0, Marin 4.2, Santa Clara 4.2,
Trinity 4.3, Calvares 4.8, Alameda 4.8, Los Angeles 5.2, Santa Cruz 5.3,
Colusa 5.7, San Luis Obispo 5.7, Shasta 5.9, Orange 6.0, Humboldt 6.4,
Napa 6.4, San Bernardino 6.7, Solano 6.7, Imperial 6.8, San Benito 6.9,
El Dorado 7.1, Mono 7.2, Monterey 7.2, Butte 7.3, Placer 7.7, Tehama
7.8, Contra Costa 7.9, Tuolumne 7.9, Sonoma 8.2, Yuba 8.5, San Diego
8.8, Riverside 8.3, Modoc 9.0, Lake 9.2, Siskiyou 9.4, Sacramento 9.5,
Tulare 9.5, Santa Barbara 9.7, Sutter 9.9, Nevada 10.1, Amador 10.4,
Glenn 11.2, San Joaquin 11.2, Madera 11.4, Kern 11.8, Del Norte 11.9,
King's 11.9, Fresno 12.6, Stanislaus 13.6.
Counties above the mark: Merced 14.8, Inyo 29.4.
