- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Supervisors, Public Health officer discuss easing shelter in place restrictions
Talk of easing restrictions in Dr. Gary Pace’s shelter in place order – which went into effect on March 19 with additional restrictions that closed local waterways, hotels and vacation rentals several days later – took place at Tuesday’s board meeting.
The shelter in place order remains in effect until May 3.
The number of Lake County COVID-19 cases has held at six since last week. Five of the cases are recovered, according to Lake County Public Health.
Pace told the board on Tuesday that COVID-19 cases appear to be dropping off statewide and regionally and the state is working to increase testing supplies and laboratory capability.
As such, attention is now turning to loosening restrictions. Pace said the end game is, how can restrictions be eased and the community be allowed to get back to a semblance of normal.
He said large gatherings probably will not be happening any time in the near future, and possibly not until there is a vaccine available.
If the restrictions are pulled back too soon, Pace said there could be a surge in cases again. The idea is to be methodical and loosen restrictions in a way that allows activity while protecting vulnerable people.
He suggested taking an approach of loosening restrictions, waiting a few weeks and then loosening some more. If things get bad and cases increase, that may lead to another clamp down.
Pace added that vulnerable people will need to be on lockdown indefinitely, adding that society has been shut down to protect that group of people.
He said wearing masks and continuing to observe social distancing will continue to help the situation going forward.
Another action Pace suggested is trying to limit people coming from out of town, acknowledging, “So much of the economy is based on that.” However, if the lake is opened up, Pace said visitors are likely to bring in infections.
With the order set to expire on May 3, Pace said he plans to have updated regulations in place by then. By that point, Gov. Gavin Newsom also has indicated he will have new rules in effect.
Pace indicated a desire to loosen some recreational restrictions by Friday. Possible changes could include hiking with social distancing, fishing on the side of the lake, and use of nonmotorized boats like kayaks and canoes. Then, Pace said he will watch what the governor does as he considers more changes.
Supervisor Rob Brown wanted to move forward with easing restrictions on Tuesday rather than waiting for Friday. Pace said he needed time to coordinate with the different agencies involved in enforcing the shelter in place order.
Still to be decided are measures to begin easing restrictions on businesses.
Referring to rules Sonoma County has for mandatory masking, Pace said the county may need to do that when opening up more businesses. However, he said he’s reluctant to take that step, and during the discussion Supervisor Bruno Sabatier opposed a masking requirement, questioning how such a rule would be enforced.
Brown said he still hadn’t heard any logical or factual reasons why the county couldn’t open up on Tuesday. “I think we’ve gotten too restrictive for too long without justification. It’s not working out.”
He said no one was laying out any facts, just a hypothesis.
That kicked off a brief verbal sparring exchange between Brown and Board Chair Moke Simon, who said it wasn’t a hypothesis, with more than 40,000 deaths in the United States by that point.
Brown replied that it was a hypothesis and Simon said it’s a very deadly pandemic, to which Brown said that wasn’t a fact, and that more people die from doctors’ mistakes than COVID-19.
Simon said he disagreed, as do most health officials.
“I’m nervous about what the state is going to do and I think we need to take back some control,” Sabatier said.
Sheriff Brian Martin told the board, “I’m in favor of getting things back to normal as quickly as possible,” but added that he realized there is a balance to keeping safe.
Martin said he wanted a few days to talk about how the changes would be worked out.
He said he felt very strongly that the steps the county took early on helped. The sheriff added that he liked the idea of reopening recreational opportunities and letting some businesses also reopen.
The board took no formal action on the matter, which was discussed during Pace’s weekly update.
In a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday, Sheriff Martin indicated work was underway on changes to the order and some easing of restrictions are anticipated in the coming days, but he added that he could not get into specifics.
There’s both a desire to lift restrictions and to keep the community safe, Martin said.
He encouraged people with suggestions about the restrictions to write Public Health at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
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