The last two local counties to leave the "Purple" tier for the "Red" one in the state's metrics for reopening, Contra Costa and Sonoma counties, were promoted on Friday, several days ahead of the weekly Tuesday schedule.

Mass-vaccination sites across the state of California are in need of volunteers. For those eager to get a vaccine shot before they're eligible without committing any ethical misdeeds, there may be opportunities in your area to volunteer some time and receive a vaccine.

As expected for several weeks though a week later than predicted, San Francisco has moved to state's "Red" tier for reopening businesses, as COVID case numbers have fallen back to levels not seen since before Thanksgiving. Also newly "Red" are Santa Clara and Napa.

Even though San Francisco's COVID case numbers have looked about as good as those in neighboring counties San Mateo and Marin, the latter two have advanced to the "Red" tier for reopening as of Tuesday afternoon, while SF is left behind with the majority of California counties in the "Purple" tier.

Two recent studies based on COVID testing in San Francisco's Mission District offer some insight into the so-called California variant of the coronavirus, which appears to be becoming more prevalent locally with each week.

On the same day that California's number of hospitalized COVID patients fell back to late-November levels this week, the Bay Area's number has also fallen to nearly the same number as were hospitalized on November 30.