TimesOC: Orange County could bring back indoor dining as soon as next week

Good morning and welcome to the TimesOC newsletter.

It’s Friday, March 12. I’m Ben Brazil on rotation with my colleagues, editors John Canalis and Carol Cormaci, to bring you the latest roundup of Orange County news and events.

Indoor dining, gyms and other venues in Orange County that have been closed for some time may be able to reopen as soon as next week.

Reporters Luke Money and Rong-Gong Lin II reported Thursday that most California counties could move out of the state’s strictest COVID-19 tier if the state hits its goal of administering 2 million vaccine doses to underserved populations.

Gov. Gavin Newson has said that the goal could be reached by Friday, Money and Lin II wrote.

Orange County met the case rate requirements for moving into the red tier, but the state released the new rule last week that a purple tier county can move into the red tier if it has a case rate between seven and 10 per 100,000 for two weeks when the state has administered 2 million doses to disadvantaged communities.

Other counties that could advance to the red tier once the state meets its goal are: Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Placer, Mendocino, San Benito, Tuolumne, Siskiyou, Colusa and Mono.

The unequal impact of the virus has been a widely reported issue that has taken some time to catch the serious attention of state and some local governments.

In Orange County, the predominately Latino populations of Santa Ana and Anaheim have been hit hardest by the virus. As of Thursday night, Anaheim accounted for more than 41,000 cases and Santa Ana for more than 44,000. There have been about 248,000 COVID-19 cases in Orange County.

The county has partnered with Latino Health Access and an Asian Pacific Islander Task Force to get vaccines and testing to underserved populations in the county.

Orange County placed a lot of faith in its “super sites” to get as many people tested and vaccinated as possible. However, an issue that arose was many people lacked transportation to get to the super sites or trusted their neighborhood clinic more for treatment. The county provided community health centers with 15,000 doses last month, though there is no official agreement with the county for recurring allotments.

Indoor dining could soon reopen in Orange County.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

NEWS

— The Buena Park City Council decided Tuesday night to remain in a community choice energy group that could increase local use of renewable energy and potentially lower rates for residents. Buena Park is part of the Orange County Power Authority along with Huntington Beach, Fullerton and Irvine, which is spearheading the effort.
— The Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach has reopened after being shuttered due to the pandemic.
— The Laguna Beach City Council voted to censure Councilman Peter Blake, saying he acted unprofessionally.
— The Costa Mesa Police Department has had three officer-involved shootings since Jan. 31.
— The Newport-Mesa Unified School District is considering returning to full-day classes on April 19.
— The Newport Beach City Council approved the conceptual plans for a long-awaited junior lifeguard headquarters.
— Katrina Foley was elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

SPORTS

— The Huntington Beach boys’ water polo team defeated Newport Harbor 17-11.
— Matt Vasgersian will be the new television play-by-play announcer for the Angels.
— Mike Trout hit his first home run of the spring.
— Matt Thaiss’ once-promising career prospects as a 16th overall pick are fading. But he has a chance to find his swing this season.
— Angels catcher Kurt Suzuki is beloved by the team.

ARTS

— The Irvine Barclay Theatre is hosting new livestream concerts. The Bryan Cabrera Trio with Edmund Velasco will perform on March 13 and Joey Sellers Quintet will play on March 20.
— An exhibit of Salvador Dali’s works will be at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton until April 8.