New COVID-19 County Health Equity Requirement Begins Tuesday
In an effort to reduce COVID-19 transmission across all of California’s communities, starting tomorrow, October 6, 2020, the more populous counties will need to meet a health equity metric in order to further open their economies.
To advance to the next less restrictive tier in the state’s COVID-19 Tier Framework, a county, depending on its size, will need to meet an equity metric and/or show plans for targeted investments to eliminate neighborhood disparities in levels of COVID-19 transmission. Those investments can include spending on augmenting testing, disease investigation, contact tracing, isolation/quarantine support, and education and outreach efforts for workers.
The health equity metric will apply to the 35 counties with populations greater than 106,000. The remaining 23 counties are excluded from meeting the equity metric, but must demonstrate the targeted investments.
The details of the new health equity requirement can be found in the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy: Covid-19 and Equity guidance.
