LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Due to rising COVID-19 cases across the state and in some counties in particular, the state has added more counties to its watch list, but so far Lake County’s lower case rate has kept it off that list and the Public Health officer is offering guidance for how to keep it that way.
On Friday state officials reported that 38 of California’s 58 counties were on the list, representing 93 percent of the state’s residents.
Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace confirmed on Friday that Lake wasn’t yet on the list, but that all of its neighboring counties – Colusa, Glenn, Mendocino, Napa, Sonoma and Yolo – are.
All of Lake’s neighboring counties have seen rapid case growth in recent weeks, including Colusa and Glenn in the Sacramento Valley, which have smaller populations but higher caseloads.
As of Friday night, Colusa was reporting 323 cases and four deaths; Glenn, 325 cases, one death; Mendocino, 312 cases, nine deaths; Napa, 888 cases, eight deaths; Sonoma County, 2,842 cases, 32 deaths; and Yolo, 1,510 cases, 41 deaths. Lake County has so far reported 195 cases and one death.
Pace pointed to issues in Mendocino and Sonoma counties where they have recently seen outbreaks in skilled nursing facilities that resulted in deaths.
Statewide, Public Health departments reported nearly 500,000 cases and more than 9,200 deaths on Friday night.
Pace told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that while there are new cases being reported daily in the county, and there was a “close call” with an outbreak, there haven’t been explosive rises in the caseload and the hospitals aren’t getting overloaded.
He said the caseload is manageable and the county is meeting the requirements of its reopening variance.
“The state did check in with us and we did have to confirm that we are still meeting all our variance metrics,” he said.
At that point, Lake County’s positivity rate was at 4.4 percent. By Friday, it had dropped to 3.4 percent. Pace told the board that a positivity rate of 8 percent or higher “is a problem.”
Pace said Friday that, despite Lake County’s relative success, it sits one significant outbreak or spike in infection rate that applies pressure to the local hospital capacity away from joining the 38 counties on the state’s county monitoring list.
In his comments to the board on Tuesday, Pace said once a county gets on the watch list, it doesn’t get off of it until the state changes the requirements.
Being added to the list means a loss of local control, he said.
The counties on the monitoring list for three or more consecutive days must close indoor operations for certain sectors, Pace explained.
If Lake County were to cross the threshold and be added to the monitoring list, Pace said gyms and fitness centers, places of worship, hair salons and barbershops, and personal care services (including nail salons, massage parlors, and tattoo parlors) would be required to close or shift to entirely outdoor services and activities. In counties on the monitoring list, schools cannot open, he added.
“Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee Lake County will maintain local control throughout the remainder of the pandemic. Work in critical sectors must go on at all times, and there will continue to be significant risks until a vaccine is developed and readily available,” Pace said.
However, he encouraged the community to do several simple things that make a significant difference.
Pace said those measures include washing hands, wearing a facial covering when outside of one’s home, observing social distancing, canceling and avoiding gatherings with individuals outside of your immediate household, particularly indoor activities, and complying with health orders, which are designed to limit overall risk.
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