Fresno County's top doctors are telling the public to prepare to see a return to stricter COVID-19 regulations in the coming weeks.
During a Fresno County Department of Public Health COVID-19 Media Briefing on Tuesday, November 10, Dr. Rais Vohra said he expects the county to return to purple Tier 1, based on California's four-tier color coded "Blueprint for a Safer Economy."
"I expect we're going to be back in purple next week," said Vohra. "On the one hand it's disappointing, but on the other hand it's not surprising because we've seen the numbers tick up over the last seven days."
On September 29, Fresno County dropped down to red Tier 2, meaning there's a "substantial" risk for COVID-19 spreading in the community.
But on Tuesday The Fresno Bee reported that the number of daily new cases in Fresno County was 8.3 per 100,000 residents, which is higher than the limit of 7.0 for the red-tier.
With the holiday season quickly approaching, Vohra gave residents advice about how to safely celebrate Thanksgiving and the following holidays during the pandemic.
"Be very careful and keep your gatherings very small if you decide to have them at all," he said. "Speaking very frankly, I think we're going to have a purple Thanksgiving."
Vohra said it's too soon to tell how Christmas will look, but Thanksgiving gatherings pose a threat to slowing the spread of the virus because many families will gather and mask wearing will be at a minimum since people will be eating together.
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