LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Despite a confirmed case of novel coronavirus being reported in neighboring Napa County this week, the risk of the virus making it to Lake County remains low, according to Lake County’s Public Health officer.
On Tuesday, the county of Napa said that a single case of novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, was confirmed in a patient under isolation at Queen of the Valley Medical Center, with a second patient with symptoms under investigation at the hospital, as Lake County News has reported.
Officials said those two patients, who are not Napa County residents, were transferred on Monday to Queen of the Valley from Travis Air Force Base in Solano County.
They had been flown to Travis AFB from Japan, where they were under quarantine on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Because there are limited isolation beds in Solano County, they were transferred to Napa County, officials said.
Napa County Public Health Officer Karen Relucio, MD, said there is little risk to Napa County residents.
This week, Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace echoed those sentiments when it comes to possible impacts for Lake County.
He said he expected health officials in Napa County are following strict infection control precautions.
“There would be almost no contact with these patients by anyone in Napa County, so risk would be low for the residents of Napa, and continue to be low for residents of Lake,” Pace said.
Last week, Pace had updated the Board of Supervisors about the situation, also telling them that he believed the risk remained low.
He had reported that there is a group of Americans who have traveled to China but who are not symptomatic and therefore considered medium risk, so they have been under self-quarantine. He said there are a large number of such individuals in the Bay Area.
Pace told Lake County News this week that the Lake County Health Department is in regular communication with state health officials, with peers in other jurisdictions and within the county.
“Hopefully, the spread will continue to be very slow, but we will see,” he said.
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