• 19 local schools see documented COVID-19 cases
Warning against holiday gatherings, at Tuesday’s El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meeting Public Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams said while the county remains in the orange tier of the state’s COVID-19 monitoring system it could easily slip back into the red tier if there is an increase in cases or positive tests.
But Williams expressed confidence the county can eventually hit the yellow tier.
Statistics show that as of Oct. 20, 33,444 people have been tested for the virus in the county. Of those tested, 32,142 tested negative and 1,206 have recovered. As of Tuesday there were a total of 12 active cases; no patients are hospitalized with the disease and there have been no new deaths. A total of four people have died of COVID-19 in the county since the county’s first case was reported March 20.
Williams said it’s likely a vaccine won’t be available until 2021. With the holidays coming up Williams urged people to make alternate plans. Rather than traveling to gatherings, she suggested staying home with one’s immediate family.
Public Health Nursing Manager Lynnan Svensson reported that 19 schools have documented COVID-19 cases. That includes 38 cases among students, teachers and staff with two cases due to exposure at school. All school districts in the county are open for at least hybrid instruction; one large and one small school district are doing classes in person.
In total 30 schools have had 109 students, staff or teachers quarantined. That includes exposures that occurred at school and for other reasons ascribed to excessive close contact, lapses in not using a mask, in special needs classrooms or during sports activities.
Supervisor John Hidahl brought up the low death rate in the county and the need for more local control, saying businesses should reopen and children should be back in the classroom.
On a related matter Supervisor Brian Veerkamp recommended the board appoint a delegate to an Oct. 29 conference of north state representatives to discuss reopening California’s economy, reopening of schools and actions in response to the state of California’s threat to withhold entitled funds to counties.
An item continued from the Oct. 13 meeting, Chief Administrative Officer Don Ashton reported 15 to 16 counties have been invited to the conference plus legislative representatives.
The letter, which was signed by Assemblymembers James Gallagher, Kevin Kiley and Megan Dahle along with Senators Jim Nielsen and Brian Dahle, states, “The governor has assumed broad powers during this open-ended emergency and through his Department of Public Health has instituted arbitrary and capricious rules that restrict and severely limit the ability of our citizens to preserve their livelihood. The education and mental health of our children languish under inadequate distance learning when our schools could be safely reopened.
“All of this has been done by the dictates of one man and a select group of bureaucrats,” continues the letter. “There has been no representative government. In fact, despite our protests, our Legislature has been complicit and failed to provide any check against this gross abuse of power. Worst of all the governor’s machinations have been guided by politics and the influence of Sacramento special interests more than public health and the wellbeing of our citizens.”
The letter accused the governor of using the threat of withholding CARES Act dollars and other funds to force compliance and of tolerating an “incompetent” Employment Development Department that does not pay entitled benefits to citizens.
Sheriff John D’Agostini said he was interested in attending the conference but two different motions to send a representative to the conference failed on a three-to-two vote when the board couldn’t decide who to send. In the end the board took no action.
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The Link LonkOctober 23, 2020 at 12:00AM
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Officials warn against holiday gatherings - Mountain Democrat
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