A.M. Brief: At Least Three More Weeks Until L.A. Moves to Yellow Tier

Could L.A. move to the least restrictive tier of reopening by the end of April? Maybe. Also today: A leveling off in the drop in COVID-19 cases, a proposal to house migrant children at the Long Beach Convention Center, and a supportive housing proposal for locations near L.A. beaches. It’s Tuesday. This is your news brief. Take it!

Morning News Rundown

Now that L.A. has moved to the orange tier, the next logical question is when can we move to the yellow (least restrictive) tier of reopening? Public Health says it won’t happen for at least three weeks. Once a statewide goal of administering 4 million doses of vaccine to low-income, hard-hit communities has been met, the county’s case rate must be less than 2 per 100,000 residents. As of last week, the case rate was 3.1 per 100,000. [ABC 7]

After a rapid decline in new daily cases for most of March, L.A. County has plateaued, holding steady at around 600 new cases per day on average. The leveling off comes even as the death rate has slowed and hospitalizations are near their lowest point since early in the pandemic. [Crosstown LA]

The Department of Health and Human Services wants to use the Long Beach Convention Center to house as many as 1,000 migrant children for as long as four months to cope with the increase of unaccompanied minors coming across the U.S.-Mexico border. Long Beach City Council is scheduled to debate the proposal at a closed session on Tuesday afternoon. [LB Post]

A “double mutant” variant of COVID-19 first identified in India has been diagnosed in a Bay-area patient by scientists at Stanford University. Because this strain of the virus has two separate worrisome mutations, scientists are concerned about its potential to escape immunity offered by vaccination or prior infection. [L.A. Times]

President Joe Biden previously said he expected all states to open vaccine eligibility to all adults by May 1. However, he’s expected to move the date to April 19 later today thanks to the progress made in vaccine distribution. California has already said all individuals 16 years and older are eligible on April 15. [ABC 7]

A new proposal by Councilman Mike Bonin seeks to convert a slew of westside county lots into permanent supportive housing. Proposed sites include locations in Pacific Palisades, Mar Vista, Marina Del Rey, Playa del Rey, Venice, Del Rey, Westchester, and West LA. [Patch]