Wine Country Times

Sonoma County has reduced its COVID-19 status from purple tier to red tier on the heels of the passing of the federal stimulus. 

As the U.S. passes the one-year mark of nation-wide shutdowns, Sonoma County has returned to red tier status, which will enable greater freedoms for businesses and activities. Beyond the red tier, continued improvement within the county could move Sonoma to the orange and yellow tiers, which signify lower COVID transmissions, and moving towards normalcy in everyday life. 

In a March 15th meeting, county officials and legislators commended President Joe Biden and Congress in their passing of the American Rescue Plan. The bill includes federal stimulus checks for Americans, as well as funding for sweeping coronavirus vaccination efforts across the country. 

In the meeting, Dr. Sundari Mase outlined the improved figures for the county’s COVID-19 data. 

“We are doing really, really well. Our adjusted cases per day per 100,000 residents is now 6.8 – as low as it has been in the past nine months, and our positivity rate is down to 2.5%,” Mase said. 

Dr. Mase also asked for patience from the community.

“While we are making great progress, we’re still months away from achieving herd immunity," Mase said.

Vaccines have been slowly increasing in their availability – approximately 8,600 doses have been made available this week for Sonoma. However, the vast majority of these vaccines will serve as second doses for community members. Nationwide goals for vaccination have already been surpassing expectations, but it will still take great effort to achieve herd immunity throughout the U.S. 

Though this marks significant progress for Sonoma, Assemblyman Jim Wood emphasized that it was necessary for the community to continue being vigilant.

“I encourage everyone to not let their guard down, we're not through this yet. continue to wear your mask in public, social distance, wash your hands and get the vaccine so we can all contribute to making progress together," Wood said.