More info on the first case of coronavirus in Mendocino County, a woman under 30 years old. Public Health Officer Noemi Doohan says the case was probably due to contact with someone else who had been diagnosed with COVID-19, so now they’re tracking all known contacts…
The case was diagnosed at a clinic and the patient did not need to be hospitalized. She is said to be in isolation with her condition improving. She is not a threat to public health.
Doohan says she had to call a business who was actively disregarding the order to close, Breakers Inn and the Vue restaurant in Gualala. The health order says restaurants can prepare and serve food, but “only for delivery and carry out.”
The Sheriff has reminded the public that health orders, and now, we are assuming here, that the Governor’s order, will all be enforceable by law. The Sheriff says enforcement is mostly education, to begin with.
A resolution to declare a state of emergency in Ukiah was done online, the city council meeting virtually. The meeting was streaming from council chambers Wednesday and in the physical chambers were only the City Clerk, City Manager and Council member Jim Brown. City hall has been closed to the public, but public meetings access has been allowed so far. The agendas are for routine and urgent business only with no sensitive matter being streamed. The City Manager says critical government services needed for the community will continue and that they’re focused on utility services, water, sewer and electric.
Before the Gov. ordered the statewide shelter in place, Coyote Valley Casino in Redwood Valley said it was closing until at least April 7th. This after health experts said it was wise. But their Coyote Valley C-Store and gas pumps remain open, because they’re considered an essential business. They opened in 2016. Included nearby are nearly 50 homes, a community center, a hotel was supposed to open later this year.
Since the expanded testing in Sonoma County, another case turned up, the ninth. Now they’re dealing with a shortage of supplies, with county officials asking for state and federal help. There’s been 229 tests in Sonoma County, with nine positive results and 207 negative. Thirteen tests are pending. And local officials say they need way more tests. Coronavirus tests are being done in Sonoma County by LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics, Kaiser Permanente and the county’s health lab which now says it will get some test kits from Kaiser.
The Gov. has announced a shelter-in-place mandate for the whole state to slow the spread of coronavirus. A tweet with a link to his executive order last night. The mandate starts today. Governor Newsom’s order says those in critical sectors should report to work. Also grocery stores, pharmacies, banks and other essential services will be open. Essential things you can do, get medications, shop for groceries and supplies, care for family members and exercise outdoors. This decision as the federal government announced more than $1 billion in aid to sick residents and to be able to care for patients. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in California was more than 800 yesterday after rising 21% overnight.
The Gov. warns as much as half of the state’s population could get infected with the coronavirus during an eight-week period. Newsom sent a letter to President Trump saying the case rate in the state is doubling every four days. The letter says the Governor’s office is projecting about 56 percent of the state’s population — 25.5 million people — will become infected over an eight week period.
You can get your child’s meals delivered from the Ukiah Unified School District. They’re starting a delivery service today for any child 18 years of age or younger in the district with five routes Monday through Friday until further notice. Visit www.uusd.net and click on the link next to the school bus for a list of food delivery stops and times. They’ll also continue the meal pickups at school sites from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., Monday through Friday at Frank Zeek, Grace Hudson, Nokomis, Oak Manor, and Yokayo Elementary Schools. In the Hopland, Calpella, and Eagle Peak areas, schools are one of the stops on the bus route. Students have to be present at the pickup sites.
Confirmation of more cases in Contra Costa County. Health officials confirmed a 42nd case yesterday afternoon. But it was only up one from the day before and only three more since Tuesday. The spread of confirmed cases there went from six March 6th to 39 Tuesday night.
Seniors are being allowed to shop before others at some markets across some Bay Area counties. Safeway has seniors-only hours due to binge buying during the pandemic. Things like bottled water, eggs, pasta, meat, and canned goods could be seen in the early hours. A spokesperson for Safeway says the dedicated hours are for seniors and other vulnerable customers. Target and some Safeways in San Jose reported toilet paper sold out within minutes after the doors opened for the day. So those stores, Whole Foods and Walmart have either started the senior and vulnerable customer hours or announced they would start soon.
In Lake County locals are urging seniors to start using available services like getting help with meal delivery, delivery services from pharmacies and other services available through local senior centers. Volunteers working thru Meals on Wheels are bringing food in Lakeport, Kelseyville and Lucerne for homebound seniors, and anything else they’re in need of.
To find out what the current needs or ways to be a part of Lakeport’s efforts, call the Lakeport Senior Activity Center at 707-263-4218 or join the Covid19 – Lake County Seniors and Disabled Support Network Facebook group.
Cops continue with services in Lake County, but will need phone calls first for non-emergencies, as we’ve been reporting, the same in Mendocino County. Lake Co News reports the Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin is only booking felony cases into jail and closed their lobby. You can visit their website to report crimes online. The news site reports Clearlake and Lakeport have closed their lobbies to the public too. For the police departments, besides reporting crimes online, you can stay in touch through their Facebook accounts.
The Clearlake City Council conducted a meeting by phone. Lake Co News reports the Mayor Russ Cremer and council members Phil Harris, Joyce Overton and Russell Perdock were in chambers, but with social distancing in place, and the Vice Mayor Dirk Slooten attended on the phone. The public could also watch online. This comes after the city’s director of emergency services, who’s also the city manager declared the local emergency due to the virus. There are still no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Lake County. The council ratified the emergency declaration at the meeting and will again at their next April 2nd. The city council also unanimously voted for an urgency ordinance to stop evictions for nonpayment for at least 45 days.
The Sacramento Bee is reporting a lack of testing for coronavirus is preventing public health officials to know exactly how many people are infected. The newspaper reports there are most likely unidentified COVID-19 cases which therefore cannot be isolated. The report says the World Health Organization Director-General said testing, isolation and contact tracing are the “backbone of the response” to the pandemic, during a virtual press conference Monday, and that all countries should be able to test for suspected cases, without this, they cannot fight blindfolded and should know where the cases are. The Sacramento Bee report quotes a top health official who says testing in that region is so far behind where it should be, the actual number of those who are infected may be 20 to 100 times higher than what’s been reported.
The Mendocino County Public Health Officer is reminding that her order for businesses to close is a legal document…
Dr. Noemi or Mimi Doohan says she ordered the closure of the Breakers Hotel and Vue Restaurant in Gualala.
Dr. Doohan says it’s going to hit some harder than others, but it’s what has to be done to protect healthcare workers and first responders.
The state Attorney General Xavier Becerra sending out notice to large online marketplaces they need to do more to fight price gouging as it relates to coronavirus. Becerra says price gouging during a time of national emergency is not only disgraceful, it’s illegal. He wants the platforms and marketplaces to take immediate and vigorous steps to eliminate predatory behavior, adding that they know it’s illegal. Becerra also says anybody who feels they may have been the victim of price gouging to report it to the state. Violators could face fines of up to $10,000 and jail time.
The state unemployment office is reporting massive amounts of people filing for unemployment. The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report says the week ending March 14th showed Californians filed more than 58,200 initial claims for jobless benefits, a 34% increase and 42% higher than a year ago. The Governor says it’s going to get even worse, adding the state had 80,000 unemployment applications only on Tuesday and they normally average about 2,000 unemployment claims a day.
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