Los Angeles County is still in the most restrictive tier of California’s risk-based restrictions. This week the county announced it would begin a phased reopening over the next seven to 10 days.

So far, the county’s Department of Public Health and Board of Supervisors have not considered opening low-risk activities or businesses allowed to it, fearing continued spread and prolonged state-mandated restrictions.

The county cannot open more than is allowed by the state health department in the “widespread” tier of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

The modified reopening of five categories will be:

• Nail salons: Oct. 1
  • Indoor services at 25% capacity with outdoor as much as possible
• Cardrooms: Oct. 5
  • Outdoor operations only, no food nor beverages
• School waiver (TK-2 grade) Oct. 5
  • Applications will be reviewed by the state and county departments of public health
  • 30 schools per week limit
• Indoor shopping malls: Oct. 7
  • Indoor capacity at 25%, no food court nor common areas
• Outside playgrounds
  • City and County Parks and Recreation discretion
  • Face coverings and physical distancing required

The state measures risk-level by two metrics; daily positivity rate and daily cases per 100,000 people. It then places counties into categories – widespread, substantial, moderate and minimal – with greater or fewer restrictions dependent on the level of risk. Counties can move to the next tier by holding its metrics for two weeks.

L.A. County is splitting tiers, automatically placed in the most restrictive of the two.

Though the daily 2.9 percent positivity rate is low enough to be in the second-least restrictive moderate tier, the daily cases per 100,000 people is still too high.

The county recently dropped its daily case count to seven per 100,000, which qualifies it for the substantial level if cases did not rise for two weeks, but this week the case count crept back up to 7.3, leaving the county in the widespread tier for at least the next three weeks.

Track the county’s progress and allowable regulations by going to the Blueprint for a Safer Economy and searching for Los Angeles in the county search bar.

To see L.A. County’s protocols and COVID-19 updates, go to the county’s COVID-19 information hub on the public health’s website.