LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County’s Public Health officer said this week he believes measures to shelter in place and maintain social distancing are working in keeping the county’s COVID-19 cases low.
Dr. Gary Pace updated the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday on the local efforts to keep the community safe from the virus, which led to Pace issuing a shelter in place order that went into effect on Mach 19 and which earlier this week he extended to May 3.
Pace told the board that social distancing is having a major impact, slowing the spread of COVID-19 and allowing health care facilities to manage things at a more reasonable rate and giving testing technology a chance to catch up.
At that point, Lake County had its first two confirmed cases of COVID-19 – reported on Sunday and Monday – with the two individuals being close family members, Pace said.
A third case was confirmed later on Tuesday and reported on Wednesday. Lake County News asked Pace via email on Wednesday if the third case was related to the other two and how it was tracked. Pace would not answer the questions and instead said a press release would be issued.
That press release was vague about the third case, but from the scant details offered it appeared that the third case was not related to the other two, and that it also had come from an out-of-county contact.
During his Tuesday update to the board, Pace said the initial Lake County case involved contact with a known case at an out-of-county workplace, “which is important.”
Pace said the two family members who are the first two patients were responsible, they were sheltering in place and didn’t have much contact with the community. The first patient was at a workplace where wearing masks was a requirement.
The preventive actions the first two patients took have led to less concern about community spread. “We could be tracing a lot of different contacts right now,” but they’re not, said Pace.
Pace said masking and shelter in place are important. “They slow the spread.”
In the last week, state and federal officials have begun to recommend that everyone wear cloth masks when out of their homes. Pace said the No. 1 reason is that it’s actually protecting their neighbors. He said people who wear masks need to be thanked.
Members of the public are encouraged not to use N95 masks or surgical masks, which officials want to keep for emergency medical workers.
In his announcement about the updated shelter in place order earlier this week, Pace said that everyone must commit to “primary strategies to limit entry and spread of the virus,” including staying at home, isolating if symptoms develop, frequent hand washing and using cloth masks when out of the house.
Lake County News asked Pace to clarify whether people found not wearing masks could be cited.
“No citations at this point, but it is the right thing to do in consideration of your neighbors,” Pace said via email.
On Tuesday, Supervisor Rob Brown questioned the latest advice to use face masks after weeks of being told by officials to do just the opposite.
Brown said it’s clear that the goal was to save the mask stockpile for nurses and first responders. “They should have just told us that to begin with,” he said, adding that people aren’t stupid.
Efforts to flatten the curve and conduct surveillance
Pace said he believes the case curve is flattening thanks to social distancing and shelter in place measures.
“If we let it up too soon, then we just lose all the progress we’ve made,” he said, adding that he hopes the effort saves lives and prevents the medical infrastructure from getting overtaxed.
Pace said Public Health is now watching for community transmission. So far, Lake County’s initial cases don’t suggest that is occurring, but Pace acknowledged that it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Once it’s in the community at large, the virus will start spreading.
The effort to track community transmission isn’t just limited to the Public Health Department.
Separately, Lake County Special Districts said that over the past couple of weeks it has been working with a research group on the East Coast that has been testing the raw sewage which enters the district’s treatment plants for evidence of SARS CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19.
Special Districts said the presence of the virus in the wastewater stream can be an indicator for the presence of the virus in the community.
The first samples were taken on March 26 and subsequent samples have been taken on a weekly basis. Special Districts said results from the first round of testing were available April 7 and in the future test results should be available three to five days after sampling.
The first set of results from the March 26 sampling did not detect evidence of the virus in any of the four samples sent in, Special Districts said.
“The goal of the study is to help track the progress and intensity of the spread of SARS CoV-2 throughout the nation and provide public health agencies with additional data to help them respond. The sample we take is a 24-hour composite sample representing one day in time,” Special Districts reported.
Test results at other agencies show some variability in virus concentration over the course of time, such as with multiple tests in a week, and as such Special Districts said some day-to-day variability is expected.
“The testing performed does not address the viability of the virus in the wastewater; however our staff treats raw sewage as having any number of potential contaminants and utilizes the appropriate personal protective equipment to keep them safe,” Special Districts reported. “As results continue to be received we will provide that information to help better understand how this virus is affecting our community.”
Looking at ‘end strategies’
Pace told the board that “We’re still really early in it,” when it comes to the response and what is to come.
“I think we’re going to know a lot more in a month,” he said, noting that what is now happening in China, Singapore and Italy is being closely watched to see what does and doesn’t work. New York is at least a month ahead of California.
“The real end point here is when we get a vaccine,” and when health officials can either tell who has it with a blood test and who has to be vaccinated, Pace said, noting those developments are probably a year off.
An antibody test is now being evaluated in order to tell who has had the virus so they can go back out and lead a normal life. But he said during the discussion that it’s not yet clear how long immunity to the virus will last.
He said the coronavirus comes from a family of viruses that is also responsible for the common cold. A person has immunity to the common cold for about a year, and immunity to the SARS virus lasts longer.
As more testing for the virus becomes available, Pace said tests will be able to quickly confirm if people are sick and so they can be isolated. Right now, he said, they are basically shutting everything down because we don’t have the tools in place to evaluate the condition.
He said that, over the next couple of months, as more technology comes online, they can start backing off on restrictions and letting certain parts of life come back to normal. He expected travel will be limited, including allowing people from the Bay Area to come to Lake County.
Pace said if people follow the precautions now, the limits could be relaxed. However, he added, “The real risk is letting off too soon,” and then “it just explodes.”
He added, “We’re really working together in a collaborative fashion to move forward.”
During the meeting, Supervisor Brown raised issues with Pace’s timeline.
“That’s not going to fly,” Brown said about Pace’s estimate that the situation would become clearer in a few months.
Brown voiced concern about the community shutdown being prolonged.
The board also received questions from community members at the meeting, including one asking that Clear Lake be reopened.
“At this point, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Pace.
When restrictions start to be loosened, reopening the lake would be one of the first actions taken, Pace said. However, in the meantime, while being on the lake is low risk in and of itself, it draws people from out of the area.
Board Chair Moke Simon voiced his support for Pace and other health officials in dealing with the pandemic.
“The enemy that we have right now is invisible. The enemy that we have now is not understood completely. It is here in our community. And those decisions we’re making now will hopefully be fighting for life and for future freedoms because life will be different as we move forward through this process,” Simon said.
“We’re moving into a whole new era and I think life is going to have a different flavor to it when we get through this,” Pace said. “I really hope people can keep focused on how they want to live in the future and how they want the community to be and how we can take care of each other in this kind of challenging time because we are being called really to look out for each other and to take care of each other. It really makes you realize what’s valuable and what’s important when you have all the fun stuff in life taken away.”
Pace added that he thinks there are people alive today because of actions that have been taken over the last few weeks to control the spread of the virus.
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Public Health officer: Social distancing, sheltering in place keeping local COVID-19 cases low
- Elizabeth Larson
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