https://www.siliconvalley.com/2021/04/17/flouting-covid-rules-an-open-secret-in-californias-last-purple-county/

MERCED — In the end, Merced County was the last purple-tiered county standing on California’s pandemic map, an ignoble distinction that signaled coronavirus remained widespread and indoor dining and bars were supposed to stay closed.

But that’s not how things rolled here in this San Joaquin Valley county, home to miles of almond orchards and headquarters of Foster Farms, which briefly shut down its poultry processing plant after a COVID-19 outbreak last summer.