LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County’s Public Health official said Monday that five more cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the county, with one of them being a Lake County Jail inmate.
Dr. Gary Pace said the test results came in over the weekend.
The newest positive tests mean that the number of COVID-19 cases reported in Lake County has quadrupled over the past month.
All five of the new cases are stable, and four are isolating at home, Pace said.
The fifth is a jail inmate, the second inmate to have been found with the virus over the past month, as Lake County News has reported.
Lake County now has 12 active cases, and one previously-identified case has grown sicker and is hospitalized, according to the Public Health COVID-19 dashboard. That brings Lake County’s overall case hospitalization total to three.
Fourteen cases to date have recovered and no deaths have occurred, Public Health reported.
Approximately 2,082 tests have been conducted and 67 test results are pending, the dashboard showed.
Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the newly confirmed COVID-19 inmate – along with every inmate who had direct contact with this inmate – is in isolation.
Paulich said all staff and inmates who had direct contact with that inmate and were willing have been tested and the sheriff’s office is expecting to receive those results on Tuesday.
“We are continuing to conduct surveillance testing of staff and inmates,” Paulich said.
Paulich said the sheriff’s office is working with the jail medical provider and Public Health to remove the affected inmates from medical isolation per Centers for Disease Control recommendations based on a “symptom-based strategy.”
On March 12, the sheriff's office instituted and continues enhanced measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the jail, including suspending jail programs and modified visitation procedures, screening all staff prior to entry to the facility, placing inmates who are in custody for minor offenses on home detention, enhanced medical screening at booking, wearing of face masks by staff and inmates, designating bed spaces for isolation and quarantine, and comprehensive regular cleaning and disinfecting.
Overall to date, 28 COVID-19 cases have been reported in Lake County. However, Pace said Lake County's current caseload now stands at 26. He said that's because two of the patients previously identified in Lake County returned to their home county, where their cases will now be recorded.
Pace said most of the recently identified cases appear to be clearly connected to a previously known case. Others contracted COVID-19 outside of Lake County. “Investigations and contact tracing are ongoing, but there remains no evidence of significant community transmission.”
Pace said that, to protect the identities of the affected individuals, no further information will be released at this time. “We can appreciate there is public interest in additional details, and when we reach 50 cases, we will begin sharing demographic information.”
As for the status of the county’s efforts to reopen, Pace said to this point the health systems have been able to manage and contain the cases as they have emerged.
“Therefore, the plan remains to allow indoor dining to resume at Lake County restaurants this Thursday, June 4. If the number of cases rises significantly, we may have to slow the opening process down,” Pace said.
“People’s willingness and ability to continue to practice social distancing and comply with masking requirements will have a significant effect on the rate at which COVID-19 spreads. As long as it stays at a manageable level, we can continue to move forward with gradual relaxation of the restrictions,” Pace added.
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