Riverside County inches closer to less restrictive red tier as vaccination expands

Big changes are headed our way in the coming days that includes expanding the vaccine eligibility list for those with underlying conditions to the tier loosening. 

News Channel 3’s Dani Romero explains. 

“It's a nervous excitement," said Sef Clarke. "The sooner, the better.” 

Sef Clarke is anxiously waiting his turn to get the coronavirus vaccine. He suffers from heart disease. 

“I had a 90% blockage in one artery and I have a stent, but i'm still not back up to where I can do a lot of things physically that I used to be able to do," said Clarke.

On Monday, a new pool of people who have some pre-existing medical conditions are eligible for the shot. 

“We will ask them as a screening process, do you fall into any of these categories? and if they mentioned underlying medical condition we will show them a list of underlying health conditions," said Jose Arballo, Senior Public Information Specialist for Riverside County.

But the county will not require a medical record to prove you have an underlying condition. its based on an honor system. What if your health condition isn’t on their list? 

“If what you have now will impact or could become severe life threatening illness or death because of your condition that's another screening process as well," said Arballo.

As our vaccine eligibility list expands, what does that mean for the next group, Phase 1C? 

“I don't have the definition yet of who they will be, but obviously we'll be moving to another level as soon as we get done or through a good portion of the underlying medical condition and disability population," said Arballo.

Not only are more people getting vaccinated countywide, we’re also inching closer to a less restrictive tier. 

According to the state’s public health department, we might meet a big vaccination milestone by Friday when 2 million doses have been administered in vulnerable communities. State officials estimate it would take about two days to assess which counties could then move. 

But in Riverside County, it’s still not completely clear what day we might see a move to the red tier. 

"we're believing we are going to start to head that way or we could already be in the red tier so just keep in mind that this is a very fluid situation but we're excited,"said John Welsh. "We're headed in the right direction."