Orange County, Calif. has begun to close in on entering the state’s least-restrictive COVID-19 stage after reporting three consecutive days of yellow tier metrics. According to metrics released May 9, the county’s daily case rate per 100,000 people was down to two, qualifying it for yellow tier status. The other two metrics required to make yellow tier, overall positivity rate and health equity quartile rate, improved from 1.4 percent to 1.3 percent and 1.9 percent to 1.4 percent respectively. Both of these rates had qualified for yellow tier for weeks, but the case rate stuck in orange tier status was what kept the county from advancing to the least restrictive tier. If Orange County can maintain two weeks of yellow tier metrics beginning May 11, it is likely the county will advance to yellow tier May 25, Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett told The Epoch Times. Bartlett said that she is excited for the advancement because it will bring the region closer to having a …