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- Written by: BETSY LADYZHETS
For the first time since America’s COVID-19 outbreak started, a federal public health agency released county-level testing data.
On Sept. 3, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, published a dataset showing COVID-19 test positivity rates broken out by U.S. county.
While this dataset has not been highly publicized, it provides key information about the state of COVID-19 testing and outbreak control across the country, as originally reported by Stacker Media.
A test positivity rate describes the percentage of tests conducted in a particular area that return a positive result. For example, if 1,000 people in a New York county are tested for COVID-19 in a particular week and 10 of those people test positive, the county would have a positivity rate of 1%. Meanwhile, if 25 people in an Oklahoma county are tested and 5 test positive, the test positivity rate for that county is 20%.
These positivity rates are typically reported for a short period of time, either one day or one week, and are used to reflect a region’s testing capacity over time. If a region has a higher positivity rate, that likely means either many people there have COVID-19, the region does not have enough testing available to accurately measure its outbreak, or both. If a region has a lower positivity rate, on the other hand, that likely means a large share of the population has access to testing, and the region is diagnosing a more accurate share of its infected residents.
Test positivity rates are often used as a key indicator of how well a particular region is controlling its COVID-19 outbreak. The World Health Organization recommends a test positivity rate of 5% or lower. This figure, and a more lenient benchmark of 10%, have been adopted by school districts looking to reopen and states looking to restrict out-of-state visitors as a key threshold that must be met.
Stacker has visualized the positivity rates reported by the CMS. These figures reflect average weekly test positivity for the week of Aug. 27 to Sept. 2. CMS has categorized counties according to their positivity rates:
Green: test positivity under 5% in the past week (or with fewer than 10 tests in the past week).
Yellow: test positivity between 5% and 10% in the past week.
Red: test positivity greater than 10% in the past week.
The new data showed that Lake County, California, was in the yellow category of between 5 and 10 percent for that week, which aligns with positivity rates reported by Lake County Public Health for that week.
The visualizations also include state-level positivity rates for the same time period, sourced from the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic, and county-level case and death counts from the most recent week of data available (Sept. 3 to Sept. 9), sourced from the New York Times COVID-19 data repository.
Stacker
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The virtual town hall will take place from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17.
Thompson will be joined by special guest Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14), chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, for a climate change discussion.
This is the 14th in a series of virtual town halls. All constituents of California’s Fifth Congressional District and members of the press are invited to join.
This event will be held over Zoom and interested participants must email
Interested participants should include their name, their email and their city of residence. They will be notified via email with instructions on how to join.
The event will also be streamed on Facebook Live via Thompson’s page.
Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
As of Monday, the August Complex was at 755,603 acres with 30-percent containment, the US Forest Service reported.
It is the largest wildland fire in recorded California history, surpassing the second-largest – the 2018 Mendocino Complex – by nearly 300,000 acres.
Officials said Monday that the acreage of the August Complex has decreased by about 22,000 acres due to more accurate mapping and establishing management zones.
The US Forest Service and Cal Fire are engaged in a coordinated response to manage and suppress the August Complex, which complex consists of multiple fires that have burned together over the past month on the Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests.
The complex has been divided into the North, South and West Zones for management purposes.
Officials said Monday that firefighters are continuing to mop up all along the fire’s perimeter utilizing both ground and aerial resources. Some of this work is being conducted by the 14th Brigade Engineer Battalion from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.
A dozer line is being completed around the Salt Creek Conservation Camp and may be followed by a burnout if necessary to help protect the area, officials said.
A structure protection group has been established in the Pillsbury Lake Basin to help protect infrastructure. This includes installing hose lays, supplying water dip tanks for helicopters and putting in dozer lines where appropriate. Crews will continue to patrol and monitor containment lines throughout the fire area, officials reported.
The fire crossed containment lines in the Yuki Wilderness Sunday and made a run to the west.
Firefighters worked on suppression efforts in that area Monday to contain the fire. Officials said crews are working closely with resource advisors in the wilderness to reduce suppression impacts.
Because of winds, high temperatures and dry fuels, officials said fire activity is expected to remain high.
New evacuations were issued Sunday night in Mendocino County. Additional evacuation orders are in effect for Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt and Trinity counties. More information on evacuations is available here.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15.
The supervisors will meet in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport, for a hybrid meeting format which also will include the opportunity for community members to continue to participate virtually.
The meeting can be watched live on Channel 8, online at https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx and on the county’s Facebook page. Accompanying board documents, the agenda and archived board meeting videos also are available at that link.
To participate in real-time, join the Zoom meeting by clicking this link at 9 a.m. The meeting ID is 924 3246 0906, password 011841.
To submit a written comment on any agenda item please visit https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx and click on the eComment feature linked to the meeting date. If a comment is submitted after the meeting begins, it may not be read during the meeting but will become a part of the record.
At 9:02 a.m., the board will get its update on COVID-19 from Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace.
In untimed items, at the request of Supervisor Bruno Sabatier, the board will discuss how Public Services Director Lars Ewing can waive fees for landfill use for specific groups with community clean up goals.
The board also will consider a resolution authorizing straight-time overtime pay for management employees working beyond 40 hours in a week due to Board of Supervisors-declared emergencies, concurrent with active emergency operations centers for the COVID-10 pandemic event and for the LNU Lightning Complex wildfire event. Such pay would be capped at 40 hours per event.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Adopt resolution amending Resolution No. 2020-73, revising and extending the county of Lake COVID-19 interim policy for working remotely.
5.2: Approve continuation of the county of Lake COVID-19 public health emergency return to work – worksite protection protocol.
5.3: Approve minutes of the Board of Supervisors meetings April 7, April 14, June 16, July 14, July 21 and Sept. 1.
5.4: Adopt resolution approving Agreement No. 20-0397-000-SA with California Department of Food and Agriculture for compliance with the Nursery Inspection Program for period July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021, in the amount of $631.
5.5: Adopt resolution fixing tax rates for local agencies, general obligation bonds and other voter approved indebtedness for Fiscal Year 2020-21.
5.6: Approve reissuance of tax refund check from FY 16/17 in the amount of $94.98 issued to David Leppert.
5.7: Adopt resolution approving county of Lake Application to the California Department of Housing and Community Development for Emergency Solutions Grant Program CARES Act funding.
5.8: (a) Waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) approve the agreement between the county of Lake and Mountain Valley Family and child services for specialty mental health services for Fiscal Year 2020-21 in the amount of $48,000 and to authorize the board chair to sign the agreement.
5.9: (a) Waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) approve the agreement between the county of Lake and Care Coordination Systems for the implementation of Pathways HUB Referral System software for Fiscal Year 2019-20 through Fiscal Year 2021-22 in the amount of $512,500 and authorize the board chair to sign the agreement.
5.10: (a) Waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) approve the agreement between the county of Lake and Lake County Office of Education - Safe Schools Healthy Students Program for school-based specialty mental health services for Fiscal Year 2020-21 for a contract maximum of $250,000 and authorize the board chair to sign the agreement.
5.11: Approve amendment one to the Building and Rooftop Space License Agreement between the county of Lake and Cellco Partnership, d/b/a Verizon Wireless; and authorize the chair to sign.
5.12: Approve a deed notification covenant for an environmental restriction on a portion of Lampson Field and authorize the chair to sign.
5.13: Approve irrevocable offer of dedication for roadway and public utility purposes - across a portion of the Licina/Fitzsimmons Property adjoining the lands of Barnes, Upper Lake, Parcel Map 09-02 Barnes.
5.14: (a) Approve the purchase of a 2020 Can-Am MAV Sport XX UTV and (b) authorize the sheriff or his designee to issue a purchase order to Hillside Powersports Marine in the amount of $24,962.45.
5.15: Approve the Sun Ridge Systems Software Support Services agreement for the FY 2020/21 in the amount of $43,489.50 for the support of its Law Enforcement Software Suite, and authorize the chairman to sign.
5.16: Sitting as Lake County Sanitation District Board of Directors, approve agreement with California Exterminators Alliance for herbicide / pesticide application in the amount of $29,675 through June 30, 2021, and authorized the chair to sign.
5.17: Sitting as Board of Directors Lake County Sanitation District, consideration of approval of final design engineering services agreement in the amount of $178,000 with Brelje & Race Consulting Engineers for the Middletown sewer treatment plant; and authorize the chair to sign.
5.18: (a) Waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) approve agreement between county of Lake and Harmony Research, for FY 20/21 for professional research services related to tax default land sales.
TIMED ITEMS
6.1, 9:01 A.M.: Public input.
6.2, 9:02 a.m.: Consideration of update on COVID-19.
6.3, 10 a.m.: Continued from Aug. 18, appeal to Board of Supervisors, AB 20-01 of major use Permit (UP 19-05) and initial study (IS 19-09) (APN 009-021-07).
6.4, 11:15 a.m.: Consideration of presentation on Lake County Mental Health Services Act annual update and three-year program and expenditure plan for Fiscal Year 2020-2023.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Discussion and direction to staff on ways for the Public Services director to waive fees for landfill use for specific groups with community clean up goals.
7.3: Consideration of a resolution authorizing straight-time overtime pay, for management employees working beyond 40 hours in a week due to Board of Supervisors declared emergencies, concurrent with active emergency operations centers for the COVID-10 pandemic event and for the LNU Lightning Complex wildfire event, capped at 40 hours per event.
7.4: Consideration of advisory board appointments: First Five Lake County.
7.5: Consideration of amendment one to the agreement between the county of Lake and the Kelseyville Motel for COVID-19 emergency isolation housing and authorize the chair to sign.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Conference with labor negotiator: (a) chief negotiator: M. Long; county negotiators: C. Huchingson and P. Samac; and (b) employee organizations: LCDDAA, LCDSA, LCCOA, LCEA, LCSEA and LCSMA.
8.2. Conference with (a) county negotiators: M. Simon, B. Sabatier, C. Huchingson, S. Carter (b) temporary representatives designated to meet with county department heads regarding salary and benefits and (c) unrepresented management employees.
8.3: Public employee evaluations: Agricultural Commissioner Steve Hajik, Public Services Director Lars Ewing.
8.4: Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Gov. Code section 54956.9(d)(1): State of Calif. et al., ex rel. OnTheGo Wireless, LLC v. Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, et al.
Email Elizabeth Larson at