August 24, 2020 — Covid-19 cases in Mendocino County climbed to 629 (increased from 624 since this story was produced) over the weekend.
Dr. Andrew Coren is scheduled to start as the county’s public health officer today. Dr. Noemi Doohan, who will continue as a part-time public health contractor, reported on Friday that the outbreak at Sherwood Oaks Health Center in Fort Bragg appears to be contained, though there is another outbreak in an unspecified clinical setting. There are no business outbreaks at this time. As of yesterday afternoon, the state’s recorded number of cases in Mendocino County was 505, which is 119 short of the actual, though the state did recognize all sixteen deaths reported by the county.
School has been underway remotely at Ukiah Unified, the county’s largest school district for a week now. And at Friday’s briefing, Doohan reported that she had submitted waivers on behalf of several schools, including some districts, with the state to allow them to re-open to in-person instruction, albeit with many restrictions . The state put the county on the covid-19 watchlist last Monday retroactively due to data glitches that prevented the state from realizing the extent of the pandemic locally. Doohan explained that this has implications for the schools, which had a little more leeway when the county was not on the watchlist.
Another ongoing disaster in the region right now is the fires in surrounding counties. And schools, with their gymnasiums and cafeterias designed to hold large numbers of people, have often been used as evacuation centers during disasters . Bekkie Emery, who runs the DOC, said the county’s alternate care site on Whitmore Lane in Ukiah would be available to out-of-county evacuees with covid and that her department is stocking up on protective and hygienic supplies for shelters. She added that the county still plans to look first to the schools, including Mendocino College, to set up evacuation shelters. The county is not considering using the fairgrounds in Ukiah at this time. She added that screening protocols would be in place for evacuees, and that meal delivery and consumption protocols are being re-evaluated, since unmasked community meals are unsafe during the pandemic.
Doohan still expects the pandemic to peak locally in September.