San Diego County has officially been removed from the state’s COVID-19 monitoring list, a county official confirmed shortly after noon Tuesday.
The news sets in motion a 14-day countdown that could see K-12 students back in the classroom as soon as Sept. 1, depending on the guidance of individual school districts.
The announcement follows six straight days of San Diego County public health officials reporting a case rate of fewer than 100 positive COVID-19 tests over a week per 100,000 people.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that it was “very likely” the county would come off the state’s monitoring list by Tuesday.
The move’s effect on businesses was unclear. The county was expecting some guidance from the state in that area later Tuesday.
The county will be placed back on the list should it be flagged for exceeding any one of six different metrics for three consecutive days. Those metrics are the case rate, the percentage of positive tests, the average number of tests a county is able to perform daily, changes in the number of hospitalized patients and the percentage of ventilators and intensive care beds available.