Sonoma County to ask state to adjust local coronavirus metrics in bid to reopen more businesses

Even as a third wave of COVID-19 surges across the United States and cases in California begin to climb once again, Sonoma County this week is seeking from the state an adjustment to local coronavirus metrics so it can further reopen the local economy.

During a coronavirus news briefing Monday, Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer, said she will be asking the state to incorporate the results of testing conducted by laboratories that do not submit their results to the state electronically. Doing so could improve Sonoma County’s standing in the state’s four-tier reopening plan, she said.

“There are many labs, many of them private labs, that perform testing for COVID, but they don’t electronically report results through the state’s database,” said Mase. “Just as every vote should be counted, every test should be counted and we want to get credit for all the testing that we’re doing.”

The state assesses counties every Tuesday using three metrics that measure success or failure in controlling the virus. They are new daily cases per 100,000 residents, the overall percentage of tests that are positive and the test positivity rate in the county’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Mase said applying these test results to Sonoma County’s overall totals would result in bringing down all three metrics. The county, with an adjusted transmission rate of 11.1 new daily cases per 100,000 people, is currently in the most “purple” restrictive tier of the state’s reopening plan, indicating widespread transmission of the virus.

To qualify for the next less restrictive “red” tier, representing substantial transmission, Sonoma County must reduce its daily rate to seven or fewer cases per 100,000 people. Also, both overall test positivity and positivity in communities must be under 8% for the county to advance. These metrics are 5.2% and 7.7%, respectively.

She said the county will not qualify for the next less restrictive tier this week.

Mase said Monday that testing volumes from certain private labs, such as ADx Healthcare, have not been included in the state’s weekly calculations for tier assessment. These labs, she said, do anywhere between 3,000 to 3,500 tests a month.

Mase said she’s trying to get these labs to begin reporting their testing volumes to the state’s California Reportable Disease Information Exchange, or CalREDIE system.

The local move to further reopen comes at a time when the nation is seeing a spike in cases. California is also seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases, though to a lesser degree than other states.

On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said some counties will likely move backward, into more restrictive tiers of the state’s reopening plan. Those counties will be identified at noon Tuesday by Health and Human Services Director Mark Ghaly, during his weekly assessment.

Newsom said the state’s current positivity rate is 3.7%, an increase from the 2.9% a little less than a month ago. By comparison, some states in the country have rates as high as 40%, he said.

The state reported a seven-day average of 5,889 new cases, which far exceeds average case counts recorded in the past month. “Since the early part of October, when we were able to get those numbers down below 3,000, we haven’t seen an average of seven days above 5,800 in quite some time,” he said.

On Monday, Sonoma County joined other Bay Area counties in putting out a public health advisory discouraging large gatherings and holiday travel in the coming weeks. The advisory also urges residents who travel outside the Bay Area to self-quarantine for 14 days after they return if their trip puts them at higher risk of getting COVID-19.

The advisory also recommends holding virtual gatherings or holiday parties with family and friends or limiting gatherings to no more than 12 people from no more than three households.

Public health officials on Monday did not give an exact figure for how many tests were left out of the state’s CalREDIE system and thus left out of the calculation for local metrics. When asked why it took this long to ask the state for an adjustment based on these testing volumes, Mase said it would not have made a difference because our case numbers were too high.

“We would have have succeeded earlier,” she said. “We are now on the cusp of purple and red, especially with our enhanced testing so we have a chance by adding all of the testing.”

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.