THE BATTLE against the coronavirus isn’t won yet. To safeguard against infection – and to speed up the re-opening of schools and business – keep wearing those masks, washing hands and – as appopriate – practice social distancing. Oh, and get vaccinated (Shutterstock).

Almost there. Not quite.

Orange County’s numbers on the coronavirus pandemic continued to show encouraging improvement in Tuesday’s report, but movement from the “purple” (widespread) tier to the “red” (substantial) tier still remains to be achieved.

As reported by the county health care agency, Tuesday’s tally of confirmed new cases dipped to 250, down from 253 on Monday. There were no reported deaths on Tuesday, compared to 38 on Monday and 40 on Sunday.

Hospitalizations for coronavirus are down to 539 from 556 and the use of intensive care units for COVID-19 infections had declined to 152, a one-day drop of 27.

However the California Department of Public Health has its own requirements for re-assignment to a tier. To get “red,” the county must have an adjusted case rate of no more than seven per 100,000. Orange County is at 11.9

More encouraging is the county’s positivity rate (on a seven-day average). According to the CDPH, the OC is at 5.4 percent, well within the 5-8 percent range. Additionally, the county meets the health equity criteria (making sure that treatment and vaccination is provided fairly among ethnic groups) of 5.3 to 8 percent positive tests with a score of 7 percent.

To date, Orange County’s cumulative total of coronavirus cases are at 245,135, of which 226,386 are considered recovered. Deaths are at 3,848.

Here is a list of the OC cities with the most cases. Deaths are in parentheses

• Santa Ana: 43,804 (688)
• Anaheim: 40,742 (695)
• Garden Grove: 16,008 (297)
• Orange: 11,531 (200)
• Fullerton: 10,962 (243)
• Huntington Beach: 10,155 (176)

Westminster has had 6,866 cases and 147 deaths. Stanton has had 3,091 cases and 47 deaths.