The Orange Tier it is, and the Orange Tier it will remain, at least for now for Monterey County.

The economy is opening up and for some fully vaccinated people life has returned to something close to normal, but California's tiering system is still in full effect. Monterey County remains in the Orange Tier, meaning the Covid-19 risk level is deemed "moderate," the second least-restrictive tier.

Purple, the most restrictive, prohibits indoor activities like dining and going to movie theaters entirely while the risk of spreading the virus is "widespread"; the less restrictive Red Tier, for "substantial" risk allows more indoor activity.

Less restrictive than Orange is the Yellow Tier, when risk level is "minimal," and even more indoor businesses are allowed to be open. We are not quite there yet, based on an increase in the incidence of new cases since last week.

Here's how it works to get into a less restrictive tier: a county must meet certain metrics for new Covid-19 cases per day and test positivity rate (used as a proxy to determine how widespread the virus is) for two consecutive weeks. Then state health officials announce new tiers each week. 

As of the state's May 11 report, Monterey County is experiencing 2.6 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people per day, and the test positivity rate is 0.9 percent, or 1.1 percent adjusted to take into account health equity metrics. 

Those test rates qualify for Yellow Tier status, but the new cases per day must be less than 2.0. In the state's May 4 report, Monterey County experienced 1.9 new cases per 100,000 people per day; this uptick keeps us in the Orange Tier for now, and to get into less restrictive territory the case rate must remain under that threshold for two consecutive weeks. 

In the current Orange Tier status, restaurants may offer indoor seating to 50 percent of their normal capacity; retail stores may open at 100-percent capacity; gyms and fitness centers may open indoors at 25-percent capacity and indoor pools can open; movie theaters may open to 50-percent capacity or 200 people, whichever is lower; museums may open to 50-percent capacity; outdoor gatherings are limited to 50 people.

In the Yellow Tier, not every sector changes. For example, restaurants and movie theaters will remain capped at 50 percent. But there are increases for some businesses: Bars can reopen for indoor seating at 25-percent capacity; museums can expand to 75-percent capacity; fitness centers and gyms can increase to 50-percent capacity; outdoor gatherings are limited to 100 people; and indoor seated venues can increase from 15-percent capacity to 25-percent, or 50 percent if all guests show proof of full vaccination.