Marin County may be headed into California's yellow, least restrictive reopening tier as early as Tuesday, when state health officials announce weekly changes.
The county would join just three others in the state — Lassen, Alpine and Sierra — currently in the yellow tier, allowing most indoor businesses to reopen. That includes indoor bars that don't serve food, which could reopen at 25% capacity. It would also allow for larger indoor and outdoor gatherings.
The county is "right on the cusp" of the state's threshold to advance into the "minimal" tier, said county spokesperson Laine Hendricks on Monday.
"We're considering it too close to call because we are literally riding that threshold with very little wiggle room," she said. "So we are waiting with bated breath to hear what the state has to say about the decision."
That threshold includes positive test rates under 2% for two weeks and a rate of fewer than two cases per 100,000 residents. As of last week, Marin met both of those criteria, but the numbers are still being crunched, Hendricks said.
More than 75% of people ages 16 and up in the county have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to health officials.
If current statewide trends continue, with hospitalizations remaining low and vaccine availability high, California plans to drop all coronavirus restrictions – including its color-coded tier system — by June 15.