Sonoma County Health Officer Requests California Authority to Allow County to Resume More Business

Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase recalculated local indicators of coronavirus spread to state public health officials on Wednesday using thousands of unreported negative COVID-19 test results from local residents. I will ask you to do it. Resume operation and extend.

Mase told the county’s supervisory board at a virtual meeting on Tuesday that the commercial laboratory, whose number of virus tests across the county is uncertain, has not submitted the results to the state.

She uses state rules that allow California counties to proceed with a four-part resumption process using exceptions, even if there is a virus infection rate per 100,000 people overall. We would like to show a significant reduction in the positive rate of the typical COVID-19 test. Residents are not eligible to move to a less restrictive stage in the county.

The virus spread benchmark, which shows the average daily new infection, is one of three indicators that the state uses to determine the progression of the pandemic that is afflicting the county.

Since late August, when state officials launched a reopening regimen for 58 counties, Sonoma County’s rampant viral infection has remained at the lowest reopening stage with the strictest business restrictions. For example, restaurants, wineries and breweries are forbidden to serve food and drink indoors, and public school campuses remain closed.

State officials reassess the weekly progress of the county’s efforts to control the virus. Sonoma is the only area of ​​the nine county bay areas that is stuck in the most restrictive reopening layer. Even minimal progress in further resumptions has put pressure on the local business community, as months of the ongoing pandemic have caused serious economic sacrifices, forcing furloughs and closures.

Sonoma County’s current COVID-19 infection rate is 11.5 new daily cases per 100,000 people. The overall positive test rate is 5%, and the positive test rate in low-income areas is 7%. Both positive rates are below the 8% mark required to move from the “purple” stage to the less restrictive “red” reopening layer. However, the state’s infection rate threshold is less than 7 times a day for every 100,000 inhabitants.

But Mase said Tuesday that both of this week’s positive test indicators would drop to less than 5% of total virus tests if additional test results for counties processed in private laboratories were included. Under a rather complex and confusing set of state resumption rules, even high levels of coronavirus infection in the county are sufficient to resume progress.

If state public health authorities approve a request for an exemption from Se this week, it will not take effect until next Tuesday. Then, as long as the county has maintained a decline in test positive levels for another two weeks, it will officially go to the “red” stage, more companies will reopen, and other companies such as restaurants will be restricted. Can be opened indoors.

Mase acknowledged that with the resurgence of infections in California and most of the country, it can be difficult to further reopen the community. Sonoma County reported three more virus-related deaths on Tuesday, with deaths increasing to 149 since the outbreak of pandemic disease here in March.

Also on Tuesday, state public health officials said another wave of new coronavirus cases across the state was essentially preventing the county from resuming further, with some retreating and reinstatement of business restrictions. I announced that I am letting you.

For example, the counties of Sacramento, San Diego, and Stanislaus have returned to the most restrictive reopening phase to join Sonoma and several other regions. Meanwhile, five counties, including Contra Costa County in the Bay Area, have stepped back to “red,” the second most restrictive stage.

Mase said county residents need to focus on continuing “mitigation measures” in order to reopen and continue to operate more businesses and public places. That is, wear a mask in public and at least 6 feet away from non-relatives. “… what we were talking about from the beginning.”

Meanwhile, Sonoma County’s three recent residents (two men and two women) have each died from the complications of COVID-19, exceeding 64 each. However, they were not residents of skilled nursing centers or home care facilities, but were the center of the deadly virus outbreak area.

To date, 114 of the 149 regional virus-related deaths have been associated with older care facilities and care facilities for the elderly.

You can contact the staff writer Martin Espinoza (707-521-5213 or [email protected]). @Pressreno on Twitter.