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Napa County health officials said the patient – whose age and gender were not reported – is located in the city of Napa.
Napa County Public Health, which is investigating the case, has issued a legal order for the patient to isolate and for close contacts of the patient to quarantine.
At the same time, county officials said the general public should continue to comply with both the Napa County and state shelter in place orders, and practice social distancing of at least 6 feet when out seeking essential services or getting fresh air or exercise.
“This is Napa County’s first case and evidence that COVID-19 is in our community,” said Dr. Karen Relucio, Napa County’s Public Health officer. “I understand this may be concerning to the community, but this is why I, and the state of California, have issued shelter-at-home orders to slow the spread of illness and not overwhelm the local health care system. It is imperative that the local community comply with these orders.”
Napa County officials said a priority now that the disease is within its borders will be to conduct surveillance to determine the extent of local transmission and quickly evaluate what is happening in the community.
Statewide, on Sunday more than 1,550 Californians are reported to have COVID-19, with 29 reported deaths.
Based on figures provided by the California Department of Public Health, the majority of the cases are in people ages 18 to 64, followed by those over age 65.
CDPH reported that as of Saturday afternoon, 26,200 tests have been conducted in California, a total which includes the latest numbers the state has received from commercial and private labs. At least 13,467 results have been received and more than 12,700 are pending. Twenty-two state and county health labs are currently testing.
Lake County Public Health has so far not confirmed any local COVID-19 cases.
The latest figures given by the agency on its Facebook page – which haven’t changed in several days – estimate that as many as 40 tests have been conducted.
Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace said finding labs to do testing has continued to be a challenge due to capacity. Recently, the commercial lab Adventist Health Clear Lake Hospital uses rejected specimens for testing because of too much testing demand, he said.
Pace said getting testing results also is prolonged, with the results taking as long as seven days.
Altogether, Lake’s neighboring counties report the following confirmed COVID-19 case numbers as of 1:30 p.m. Sunday: Colusa, 0; Glenn, 0; Mendocino, 1; Napa, 1; Sonoma, 24 cases, 1 death; Yolo, 6.
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On March 15, following a meeting of all of the county school district superintendents, it was decided that all public schools would close from March 16 to April 10, as Lake County News has reported.
Three days later, Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace – with whom the superintendents had consulted on their decision – issued a countywide shelter in place order that went into effect early Thursday morning.
Over the past week, in addition to the local shelter in place order and a statewide stay at home order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom, local educators have been considering another development – Gov. Newsom’s Tuesday statement that schools are likely to remain closed through the end of the current school year.
Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg said everyone's initial focus was on the time frame up to spring break.
“Our teachers and schools have done a stellar job preparing instructional activities to fill the three-week student dismissal. The teachers I have spoken with are online by 8 a.m. each day, answering emails and phone calls, or video conferencing with students to explain lessons and complex concepts. The hope was to monitor the situation and then return to school for the final quarter,” he said.
“However, the governor’s statement took educators up and down the state by surprise,” said Falkenberg.
He said he hosted a meeting of Lake County superintendents on Wednesday, the morning after the governor's announcement, to begin planning for long term student dismissal.
“Over the next three weeks teachers, schools and the County Office of Education will be working on enhancing online and other forms of non-classroom based instruction,” Falkenberg said.
In addition to keeping the mechanics of education going at a distance, districts also are offering other support.
“All districts in Lake County are continuing to support families by providing meals to everyone under 18 years of age,” said Falkenberg. “Our food service staff have been phenomenal in their flexibility. They are providing individually boxed meals to limit any potential exposure issues.”
He said each district has established different processes to address distribution. Food service directors and superintendents have begun to compare notes to identify best practices and adjust accordingly.
For the two community college districts serving Lake County, Mendocino College and Woodland Community College – which is part of the Yuba Community College District – officials also are preparing for a lengthy closure and have moved instruction online.
Mendocino College notified students via email on Wednesday that all courses and services were to be transitioned to an online or remote platform by Friday.
“We are now expecting for the current situation to last through the end of the Spring semester,” the email explained.
Students were directed to download the Canvas and Zoom apps and to observe local shelter in place orders.
Likewise, in a Friday online message to students, Yuba Community College District Chancellor Douglas Houston said he had decided that remote instruction will continue at all campuses of Woodland Community College and Yuba College through the end of the Spring 2020 semester.
“As you continue through the remainder of your spring classes I encourage you to ‘stick with it’
and not let this disruption cause you to sacrifice your educational goals. If you stay the course, you will succeed,” Houston wrote.
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On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-34-20, which extends the deadlines for ballot counting, tabulation and other responsibilities related to the official canvass of California’s Presidential Primary Election that could risk undermining social distancing measures for COVID-19.
The statutory deadline is April 3; under the executive order, elections offices have until April 24 to complete the official canvass.
The order also permits vote-by-mail procedures to be used in three upcoming special elections, measures meant to protect public health and safety during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Those special elections are for a recall in the city of Westminster in Orange County on April 7, and for a state Senate seat in Riverside County and a US House of Representatives seat for the 25th Congressional District, which covers portions of the counties of Ventura and Los Angeles, both of which will be held on May 12.
The governor’s order also suspends the timeframes for public hearings required by political subdivisions that are in the process of changing from an at-large method of election to district elections.
In Lake County, interim Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley – who headed the elections office before her December 2018 retirement – told Lake County News on Saturday that she is moving forward with finishing the official canvass within the normal statutory timeframe.
She said that, unless there are unforeseen circumstances that delay her certification, she expects to be done by March 31.
That’s also her last day as interim registrar of voters. Her former deputy registrar, Maria Valadez, is set to leave her job in Mendocino County to step into the Lake County registrar’s job on April 1.
In the meantime, Fridley is reminding vote-by-mail voters who received a “signature verification statement” or an “unsigned ballot envelope statement” that the deadline for the Lake County Registrar of Voters office to receive the completed forms either by mail service, fax, email or in person – by appointment only – is Friday, March 27.
Fridley said the Registrar of Voters Office cannot count a voter’s vote-by-mail ballot if the completed and signed statement is not returned by that date.
For more information, call the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office at 707-263-2372 or email
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032020 California Governor's Executive Order N-34-20-COVID-19-Elections by LakeCoNews on Scribd
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Of this amount, $30 million will allow the state to lease Seton Medical Center in Daly City and St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles for a three-month basis.
Seton Medical Center is currently operating and will expand capacity to provide care for up to 120 COVID-19 patients beginning as soon as next Wednesday. Verity will operate Seton Medical Center on the state’s behalf.
St. Vincent Medical Center closed in January, but California is readying the facility to begin providing care for up to 366 COVID-19 patients as soon as possible.
This builds on California’s previous work, in partnership with local officials, to reopen Community Hospital in Long Beach for the specific purpose of accepting patients transferred from other hospitals in the area. The hospital will begin accepting transfer patients on Saturday and has a capacity of 158 beds.
“California is mobilizing every part of government to support our health care delivery system, its workers, and those among us who are most vulnerable to COVID-19,” said Gov. Newsom.
California is making historic investments to strengthen the health care delivery system, including:
– $30 million to lease and operate two facilities and to expand the state’s hospital capacity: Seton Medical Center in Daly City and St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles.
– $1,420,000 to expand capacity of the state’s public health lab in Richmond.
– $8,647,000 to purchase new ventilators, as well as IV fusion pumps, and refurbish additional ventilators.
– $2 million to contract with American Medical Response to provide patient transportation.
This past week, California began receiving shipments from a prior request from the Strategic National Stockpile. The request included:
Personal protective equipment:
– 358,381 N95 masks;
– 853,730 surgical masks;
– 162,565 face shields;
– 132,544 surgical gowns;
– 678 coveralls;
– 471,941 gloves.
In addition, California this week requested the following additional supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile:
Personal protective equipment:
– 20 million N95 masks;
– 10 million surgical masks;
– 600,000 surgical gowns;
– 600,000 face shields;
– 600,000 gloves;
– 300,000 goggles;
– 100,000 coveralls.
Medical supplies:
– 10,000 ventilators.
Lab and diagnostic supplies:
– 2 million swabs;
– 200,000 RNA extraction kits.
California expands tele-health options
This week, California acted to remove barriers to telehealth services for 22 million Californians. Increasing access to medical and behavioral care through telehealth allows individuals to receive the care and treatment they need remotely, while isolating at home and practicing social distancing, thus limiting potential exposure to COVID-19 and unnecessary impacts to the health care delivery system during this time when we want to preserve the system for our sickest and most critically ill neighbors.
Commercial and Medi-Cal managed care plans were directed to allow members to obtain health care via telehealth when medically appropriate to do so.
Providers will be reimbursed at the same rate, whether a service is provided in-person or through telehealth.
For example, if a provider is paid $100 for an in person visit, they will be paid $100 for an equivalent visit done via telehealth.
Removing barriers to telehealth will improve access and help ensure that hospitals and health systems can focus on providing care to those who need it most.