How to resolve AdBlock issue? Dr. Charlie Evans, who has helped with Public Health officer duties for Lake County, joined with new Health Services Director Jonathan Portney to give the Board of Supervisors a situation report on COVID-19 on Tuesday.
Evans told the board that the state of California, as a whole, has reached a plateau for COVID-19 cases, but rural areas like Lake are lagging behind the state and so their numbers are still rising.
He said hospitalizations are still on the rise across the state and well above the peak of Delta in September, although they haven’t reached the peak of a year ago.
Lake County is at a 27.5% positivity rate, the highest it’s had during the pandemic, with Evans noting that its previous high was 18% in September. The current case rate also is Lake’s highest, at 89.4 cases per 100,000.
The age groups with the highest case rates are those in the 18 to 34 and 35 to 49 categories, as they are in the community working, said Evans. He also noted that case rates are on the rise among school-age children.
He also reported that the highest vaccination rates are in the 50 to 64 and 65 and above age groups.
Looking at the cases by demographics, Evans said the Omicron surge has hit the Latinx community hardest, followed by Native Americans and white residents.
He said the hospitals in Lake County still have some capacity. There were eight COVID-19 patients in local hospitals on Monday.
“Omicron has had a huge impact on hospitals throughout our state,” Evans said.
Patient numbers in the state have skyrocketed in recent weeks, but the surge hasn’t yet materialized in Lake County as it has in neighboring counties.
“Our infection curve is a little behind the state,” he said.
Evans said he expects to see a surge in hospitalizations and deaths in Lake County in the next two to four weeks.
Patients hospitalized with Omicron don’t tend to have respiratory failure like with the mother COVID-19 virus and the Delta variant, but Evans said some people do get extremely ill with the Omicron variant.
Evans, an emergency room doctor who works in Sonoma County, said last weekend he treated an unvaccinated 27-year-old man who came in with respiratory failure. He said he doesn’t expect the man to survive.
He also treated a 40-year-old mother of two suffering from COVID who also appeared to have had a stroke.
Hospitals are having trouble with staffing as doctors and nurses get sick, and Evans said some hospitals are asking emergency medical technicians to help staff emergency rooms.
He said only those who need immediate medical attention — including those with COVID who have respiratory problems — should go to the emergency room now.
Schools also are getting hit as students and staff become ill, with Evans explaining that there is a tremendous amount of transmission in schools and community.
He said Public Health is dedicated to keeping schools open. Vaccinating all school age children is the best measure for preventing school closures, he said, along with wearing properly fitting masks.
Public Health asked the California Department of Public Health for supplies for the county’s schools. Evans said the state is sending 20,000 KN95 masks, 110,000 surgical masks, 12,000 gloves, 15,000 N95s and 200 pairs of goggles, all of which will be distributed as soon as they arrive.
Evans said cloth masks are no longer considered adequate and he encouraged people to make the switch to KN95 or N95 masks.
“So where are we in this pandemic?” Evans asked, answering his own question with a quote from Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
Evans said most rural areas in Northern California have not yet reached their peak for cases.
“We are likely to see that rapid rise in hospitalizations in the coming weeks and unfortunately a small percentage of these people will not survive,” Evans said.
He suggested curtailing gatherings and minimizing risk in the next two to four weeks.
Evans strongly encouraged people to stay the course in the battle against the virus. “The long-term consequences of infection aren't yet known” and some studies have suggested that a third of those who are infected will have some long-lasting effect, even if they had a mild infection, he said.
Testing, vaccination, masking, hand washing and common sense will keep people healthy, Evans said.
He said he’s optimistic that serious prevention can be prevented, adding there are more tools to treat it as time goes on.
As a practicing physician who deals with the virus day in and day out, Evans said he has a hard time understanding why more people aren’t vaccinated.
He said he treats the unvaccinated with respect, but he doesn’t always get that in return, and he believes it's because of a lack of trust.
Evans suggested kindness and open dialogue could overcome those trust issues, and he urged people to use all the tools they have to stay well
“Use your common sense and live your life,” he said.
During Tuesday’s update, Board Chair EJ Crandell emphasized that the virus is reality.
He said his mother went into the intensive care unit two day before and was intubated. “This is real.”
Crandell said his aunt also died recently. It wasn’t because of COVID-19, but because she couldn’t get a bed in a hospital because they’re filled with COVID-19 patients.
“Let’s just be real about these things,” Crandell said.
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