March 17, 2020 — Public Health Officer Dr. Noemi Mimi Doohan issued the order to shelter in place, starting at 10pm on Wednesday, March 18. There are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Mendocino County at this time, but in light of the order given in Sonoma County, Doohan chose to order county residents to remain at home for all non-essential activities.
Travel to the Bay Area is not banned, but Doohan advised strongly against it. With colleges closing all over the state, she reminded listeners that students are coming back into the county to stay with their families, which is part of the reason she expects the virus to make its way home soon.
Doohan also issued an enforceable order to ban all gatherings of 50 or more people. Smaller gatherings must observe new social distancing protocols. Sheriff Matt Kendall said there is more law enforcement on patrol because trainings have been canceled, but he plans to emphasize an educational approach to violations. County officials mostly observed social distancing protocols at today’s press conference, where every second row of seats was blocked off with yellow caution tape. Only two seats in every other row were open, and all the others were marked with signs declaring in large red letters that they were unavailable. We were not allowed into the room until we’d had our temperatures taken with a thermometer that a county worker scanned across our foreheads.
But a thermometer is not a test for coronavirus. Doohan reported that, to her knowledge, 52 tests have been conducted in the county, 49 of them through commercial labs and three through public health. Providers are not required to let her know they’ve done a test unless it comes back positive. The majority of the results are pending, and the rest have been negative. There is still a critical shortage of tests nationwide, but she expects to receive supplies to test 50 more people this week. Residents in what she called “congregant settings,” i.e. nursing homes, homeless shelters, and the jail, will have priority.