July 14, 2020 — Mendocino County is not currently on the state watch list, which would again shut down worship services, fitness centers, and salons. But last night, a new health order went into effect all across the state, restricting drinking, dining and entertainment businesses. And even though outbreaks are flaring up all over the county, the healthcare system is not yet overwhelmed and the county is still meeting its testing and contact tracing requirements to stay off the list. At this morning’s covid briefing to the board of supervisors, though, CEO Carmel Angelo told the board exactly what nobody wanted to hear. “I think if our numbers continue as they are, which is over our attestation numbers, as far as how many positives a day, and there appears a fragility to our healthcare delivery system, I believe we’ll make the watchlist. Yes. We’re headed that way, Supervisor Williams, I think we all know that. The way the numbers are going, it’s almost like it almost doesn’t matter what we do. And we’re doing everything we can. The numbers are increasing. We’re headed for the watchlist. Yes.
Angelo shared the briefing duties with Public Health Department Operations Center Manager Bekkie Emery. Public Health Officer Dr. Noemi Doohan was not at the meeting, and she will not be giving a public briefing and interviews on Friday morning. Instead, she will be present at Congressman Huffman’s virtual Town Hall at 5pm on July 17. The board will discuss hiring an applicant for her position during closed session at its next meeting on July 21st. Emery gave the case numbers. They changed by Wednesday, to 155 positive test results, with 98 released from isolation, none in the hospital, and 57 in isolation. But on Tuesday, she reported that “Over the past three days, we have had 33 new cases. We had 11 on Saturday, eight on Sunday, and 14 yesterday (Monday). This increase has resulted in two consecutive days in excess of our three cases per day in a 30-day period, requiring that we do report this information to the California Department of Public Health.”
Emery reported that on Saturday, there were three positive test results at Sherwood Oaks Health Center, the skilled nursing facility in Fort Bragg. There were two more positive results yesterday, and results are pending on more tests at the facility. Outbreak testing is processed at a lab that turns its results around a lot faster than Quest, which processes the tests from Optum Serve, the free testing site at the fairgrounds in Ukiah. Emery said the slow returns, in excess of ten days, are presenting a number of difficulties, in contact tracing and getting people into isolation in a timely manner. She urged people who have any symptoms of covid-19 to seek a test through their primary healthcare provider, “because the tests that are processed through a provider are more urgent than those that are processed through surveillance.”
Angelo said she’s activated the disaster healthcare volunteers, who can apply to North Coast Opportunities to work as contact tracers or to staff the alternate care site, if it’s needed.
One of the requirements for staying off the watchlist is maintaining 15 contact tracers per 100,000 people. Mendocino County has a population of under 90,000, many of them Spanish speakers, so there is a great need for Spanish speaking contact tracers.
Also, people are starting to party. “The challenges we run into in these types of situations is that not everyone is available to share who is at those gatherings,” Emery said. “They’re gathering even with people they don’t know all of the names of.”
Angelo tried to take stock of how the county looks to the state. With a quick response in isolating and quarantining, she said, “I think the state will show some leniency.” But she reminded the board that it would take very little to overwhelm a local hospital. “I think that what happens with all of these counties, especially these small rural counties, they go along, like we are, they meet their attestation metrics, and then, boom, what happens is we’re overtaken by events.”
The recent mask ordinance is part of the health officer’s orders and is effective in the cities as well as the unincorporated parts of the county. Sheriff Matt Kendall said a court bailiff who is on patrol in the village of Mendocino has been handing out masks made by the Mendo maskers, and Supervisor John Haschak presented an idea for an educational program by the Chamber of Commerce, called Mask Up Mendocino. “I think it’s a positive approach to getting the word out to the people that if we’ don’t start following these guidelines, adhering to what’s best for our community’s health, we’re going to be suffering economically, because businesses are going to close down. More than they have already.”