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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace confirmed to Lake County News on Wednesday that there are still no positive cases of COVID-19 in Lake County.
The county has been under a shelter in place order issued by Pace that went into effect last Thursday, the same day that Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide stay at home order.
The Lake County order exempted the homeless because, officials said, they couldn’t require sheltering in place for individuals who don’t have housing options.
The latest “point-in-time” count of homeless individuals, conducted on Jan. 27, found 572 people experiencing homelessness in Lake County.
However, health care industry numbers presented to the Clearlake City Council in January from the leadership of the Hope Center project suggested that from January to November 2019 there were 3,370 unique patients who identified as homeless in Lake County.
Pace told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that he’s concerned about homeless individuals and the particular challenges they face with avoiding the virus, noting they’re among the most vulnerable to the illness.
He pointed to the problems that could result if the virus gets into the homeless community, where there is no social distancing and less opportunity for handwashing, one of the key practices people are being told to follow to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, which causes COVId-19.
Pace told the board that a “fair amount of energy” is now going into planning to protect the homeless population.
On Wednesday, Pace told Lake County News that several teams are working on how to address the homeless situation in the county during the COVID outbreak.
“While we continue to have no confirmed COVID cases in Lake at this point, the potential of an infection getting into the homeless camps is concerning,” he said.
Pastor Shannon Kimbell-Auth, Adventist Health’s manager for community integration, a committee member for the Lake County Continuum of Care and chair of the board for Hope Harbor Warming Center in Lakeport, echoed those concerns.
People keep asking about those experiencing homelessness and if they’re concerned about getting the virus, she said.
“The answer is, of course they’re concerned about getting the virus, but they have absolutely nowhere to obey the shelter in place rule,” Kimbell-Auth said.
However, that is changing.
Earlier this week, the state announced it was awarding $100 million in grants to counties, continuums of care and the state's 13 largest cities to help protect the health and safety of people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic, as Lake County News has reported.
The Lake County Continuum of Care will receive $79,511.74, while the county of Lake has been awarded $73,152.92.
Pace said there are discussions underway about how best to direct those funds. “Other funding sources are also being actively explored, given the governor’s assurances that state monies will be coming to help with this issue.”
He added, “Some progress is being made, though, in that we are looking to locate some sites to be able to house folks without homes, should they become positive.”
Crystal Markytan, director of Lake County Social Services, said Wednesday that she didn’t yet have any retail details about the $73,000 awarded to the county of Lake, explaining, “many questions remain at the state level.”
Kimbell-Auth told Lake County News that the Continuum of Care held a meeting with Behavioral Health, Public Health and Social Services on Wednesday.
The immediate plan for the Continuum of Care is to expand the Hope Harbor warming center’s hours from nights during the week to around-the-clock, seven-day-a-week operation in order to allow homeless individuals to take refuge there during the shelter in place order, she said.
The $75,911 the Continuum of Care received in this first round of emergency funding is expected to cover the warming center’s operations until the first week of May, Kimbell-Auth said.
She said they anticipate having the warming center ready to convert to 24/7 operations by Monday. Once those around-the-clock operations start, they will stop offering bus tickets to clients in order to keep them there.
The center started out its season at New Hope Fellowship Church in Lakeport but has now moved to the former Record-Bee building at 2150 S. Main St.
There, Kimbell-Auth said they will be able to increase their numbers moderately.
Currently, the center has had 24 clients a night, 16 people in the building and eight others in their vehicles, she said.
Now, they will be increasing it to having 24 individuals inside – including three rooms set aside for families – and safe parking outside. Altogether, she said capacity will expand to 30 clients.
She said the warming center has been working with Public Health to implement strict social distancing protocol.
Kimbell-Auth said the warming center is going to be hiring staff to cover its expanded operations. She said they are looking for people already experienced and trained in providing services to the homeless, and are reaching out to agencies that have had to lay off staff due to the current crisis.
“That’s who we want to hire,” she said, explaining that they won’t have time to do all of the training that they’ve done in the past while they’re mobilizing.
She said she expects more emergency money from the state to be available. “This is changing every day.”
Hope Harbor was used for sheltering in place because it’s the only warming center currently set up and could help immediately, Kimbell-Auth said.
She said if more funds become available, that money would be used to set up a shelter in Clearlake.
Kimbell-Auth said there are also other agencies working on different outreach and projects to assist the homeless, including efforts by North Coast Opportunities and Adventist Health to make outreach to the homeless encampments in Clearlake, where they want to locate handwashing stations as a basic preventive measure.
Kimbell-Auth encouraged people who need shelter at the warming center to call first to ensure there is space.
The Hope Harbor Warming Center can be reached at 707-533-0522.
For more information visit the Hope Harbor Facebook page or its website, where donations also can be made online.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The association, also known as LARCA, said its Fire Relief Fund is changing its focus and will become the LARCA COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund.
As such, LARCA is donating $40,000 to the four senior centers in Lake County to help with the loss of income from their thrift stores and the increase in demand for home-delivered meals through the Meals on Wheels program.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lake County’s senior center were serving approximately 500 Meals on Wheels to homebound seniors daily, in addition to several hundred more who dined at one of the four senior centers in Lake County.
With the closing of the centers’ dining rooms, daily home deliveries increased to approximately 800 the week of March 16th following state, county and city “shelter in place” mandates.
The Meals on Wheels program is expected to increase an additional 25 percent during the beginning of week two and ultimately could more than double over the coming weeks.
Senior centers exist on limited funding from the Area Agency on Aging and individual fundraising efforts. With the senior centers being closed due to COVID-19, these fundraising efforts have all but ceased while costs are increasing exponentially.
Since its inception in 2015, LARCA has raised more than $3,000,000 for fire relief efforts.
Through the volunteerism and support of our Rotary Clubs, LARCA’s members pride themselves on maintaining the funds with zero overhead. This means every penny donated has gone to relief efforts.
The LARCA COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund is now accepting donations to help seniors, our most vulnerable population, as well as small businesses to survive this unprecedented pandemic.
Donations can easily be made online or via mail-in check. LARCA is a 501(c)3 organization.
For online donations go to www.LARCA5130.org, or send your checks to LARCA, P.O. Box 2921, Clearlake, CA 95422.
The Lake Area Rotary Club Association thanks you in advance for your generous donations in helping our local seniors.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With more testing facilities coming online, the California Department of Public Health said Wednesday that the number of tests conducted statewide has more than doubled.
CDPH’s Wednesday report said that 66,800 tests have been conducted, numbers that reflect reports the state received from commercial and private labs and the 22 state and county health labs that are currently testing. At least 18,276 results have been received and another 48,600 are pending.
The state said the increase in testing numbers largely came from commercial, provider and academic labs that have increased testing capacity and are now reporting that data to the state. The biggest labs included in this count include Quest, LabCorp, Kaiser, University of California and Stanford.
Those numbers were what had been reported to the state as of Tuesday. Monday’s numbers indicated 27,650 tests had been completed.
With more tests done, the numbers of confirmed cases also have risen.
By Wednesday night, based on Lake County News’ survey of county health departments statewide, there were 3,164 confirmed cases and 67 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in California.
Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace confirmed to Lake County News on Wednesday that no positive cases have been reported in Lake County so far.
In a Wednesday video, which can be seen above, Pace said about 35 tests have come back negative, with another 15 to 20 that are still pending.
For context, several of Lake’s neighboring counties have reported varying testing rates. Glenn has conducted four; Mendocino, 156; and Sonoma, 775.
Based on CDPH numbers, the majority of cases are in the age group of 18 to 49, followed by the 50 to 64 group and the over 65 group. More males than females are reported to have the virus.
Around the region, on Wednesday Humboldt County reported that its number of cases doubled, bringing the total to 10.
In Napa County, on Wednesday night officials there reported they had confirmed that county’s sixth case, a resident of the city of American Canyon who is hospitalized in another county.
Pace emphasized social distancing and said in his video that he’s seeing improvements in Lake County, with fewer people out and businesses closed.
“We really want to encourage people to keep doing this because it looks like it does really make a difference,” he said.
Pace said the community needs to be prepared for the situation to continue for a while. He urged people to stay at home, practice social distancing and wash their hands.
Anyone who is sick should isolate themselves from family members, especially those who are older or vulnerable with underlying health issues, Pace said.
In other developments reported on Wednesday, the state said Seton Medical Center in Daly City was to begin accepting up to 220 COVID-19 patients.
California is leasing the medical center for three months to expand the capacity of the health care delivery system to respond to ongoing and anticipated increases in COVID-19 cases that require medical care. Verity will operate Seton Medical Center on the state’s behalf.
“Today Seton Medical Center in Daly City started accepting COVID-19 patients on behalf of the state. California will continue to do our part to expand our capacity to respond to a potential surge in COVID-19 patients. It is also important that each and every Californian do their part by staying home and practicing social distancing. We can get through this together if we all do our part,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom.
California also has a three-month lease agreement with St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles. Officials said the state is readying the facility to begin providing care for up to 366 COVID-19 patients as soon as possible.
The state, in partnership with local officials, also reopened Community Hospital in Long Beach on Saturday and began accepting patients transferred from other hospitals in the area. The hospital has the capacity of 158 beds.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
“Millions of California families will be able to take a sigh of relief,” said Gov. Newsom. “These new financial protections will provide relief to California families and serve as a model for the rest of the nation. I thank each of the financial institutions that will provide this relief to millions of Californians who have been hurt financially from COVID-19.”
Governor Newsom secured support from Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo and nearly 200 state-chartered banks, credit unions, and servicers to protect homeowners and consumers.
Under the governor’s proposal, Californians who are struggling with the COVID-19 crisis may be eligible for the following relief upon contacting their financial institution:
90-day grace period for mortgage payments
Financial institutions will offer, consistent with applicable guidelines, mortgage payment forbearances of up to 90 days to borrowers economically impacted by COVID-19. In addition, those institutions will:
– Provide borrowers a streamlined process to request a forbearance for COVID-19-related reasons, supported with available documentation;
– Confirm approval of and terms of forbearance program; and
– Provide borrowers the opportunity to request additional relief, as practicable, upon continued showing of hardship due to COVID-19.
No negative credit impacts resulting from relief
Financial institutions will not report derogatory tradelines (e.g., late payments) to credit reporting agencies, consistent with applicable guidelines, for borrowers taking advantage of COVID-19-related relief.
Moratorium on initiating foreclosure sales or evictions
For at least 60 days, financial institutions will not initiate foreclosure sales or evictions, consistent with applicable guidelines.
Relief from fees and charges
For at least 90 days, financial institutions will waive or refund at least the following for customers who have requested assistance:
– Mortgage-related late fees; and
– Other fees, including early CD withdrawals (subject to applicable federal regulations).
Loans held by a financial institution may be serviced by another company.
Please note that financial institutions and their servicers are experiencing high volumes of inquiries.