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- Written by: Lake County News reports
As of Wednesday at 5 p.m., family visitation also has been canceled until further notice, according to Lt. Corey Paulich.
So far, no cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, have been confirmed in Lake County, but cases have been reported in other counties around the region, including Humboldt, Mendocino and Sonoma.
“The Lake County Sheriff’s Office values visitation as an essential part of rehabilitation, but at this time the department must make difficult decisions in order to protect the health and wellness of all who live and work in our jail,” said Paulich.
He said legal visits will continue to be held, but they will be restricted to behind glass. Those requiring face-to-face legal visitation must receive prior approval from the jail commander.
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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
On Monday, the U.S. Small Business Administration declared the primary counties of Alameda, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Sonoma and Tuolumne and the contiguous counties of Alpine, Amador, El Dorado, Imperial, Kern, Lake, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Mono, Napa, Orange, Placer, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Stanislaus, Sutter, Ventura and Yolo a disaster area.
This declaration is a result of economic impacts caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 beginning Jan. 31 and continuing.
The assistance is made available through SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
Small, nonfarm businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and most private nonprofit organizations of any size may apply.
Small businesses include those that do business directly with the growers, such as truckers and suppliers of agricultural equipment or services.
The deadline to apply for business economic injury is Dec. 16, 2020.
For more information visit https://www.sba.gov/ .
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Public Health Officer Gary Pace has issued a "shelter in place" order to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, March 19, 2020.
The full order is below.
Taking further steps to protect the community from coronavirus
March 18, 2020
The situation with this outbreak continues to rapidly change. We recognize the significant hardships many people have experienced with the restrictions that have already been put into place – school closures, limiting group activities, closing of bars and tasting rooms, and canceling events.
Due to the increased spread of the infection in the Bay Area, I am issuing orders that go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, March 19, 2020, telling everyone to stay at home with their families, except for essential activities.
Taking these steps means a big change in lifestyle for most people. Several Bay Area counties, including Sonoma and Mendocino, have adopted these “shelter in place” actions in recent days. The goal is to take whatever steps possible to slow the entrance and spread of the virus in the community.
At this point, no known cases have been identified in Lake County, and we have been able to test a few dozen people. Accessing testing continues to be a problem throughout California. We are pushing for more laboratory capacity in the region, and for more testing supplies. Due to shortages, there is a need to prioritize who can actually receive the test. Local medical providers have been trying hard to provide testing for people that meet the criteria. Unfortunately, there simply is not capacity for everyone who wants a test to get one.
The intent of this order is to limit the mixing of people, so the virus has less of an opportunity to spread. The countries in Europe and Asia that adopted more stringent limits on people’s movement and gatherings have been the ones best able to control the spread. Basically, all non-essential activity is being curtailed. Staying with your family group is the best way to avoid infection. Most businesses will be closed, unless they are considered “essential business or governmental services.” Travel will be limited to essential activities.
Essential activities include:
Tasks for health and safety (i.e., doctor visits)
Necessary food and supplies
Outdoor activity/exercise
Essential business operations (defined below)
Caring for family members and dependents.
Essential business operations include.
Healthcare
Food growing, delivery, preparation
Infrastructure – utilities, transport
Finances
Services for necessities of life
Fuel and transport maintenance
Sanitation
Education – providing support for distance learning
Childcare for essential workers
Delivery and shipping
Essential government functions will continue.
Homeless people are exempted, but the warming center is open at this point, and attempts are being made to locate more options.
If you go outside the home, maintain a 6-foot distance.
The order will continue through April 10, 2020. We will know a lot more by then about the spread through the area, but it is very possible these restrictions will need to continue longer. The economic impacts, the disruption of life, and the real suffering that may result from all of the changes are truly heartbreaking. We do feel the possibility of a devastating outbreak to the community is real, and these steps are being taken to protect our most vulnerable community members. While all of us will be sharing in the discomfort, some will be hit harder than others. We encourage compliance with the orders, and we also need everyone to be looking out for neighbors that are isolated and don’t have family to check on them by phone or other means.
Please do not call the Sheriff’s Department, Local law enforcement, or 911 for non-emergency information regarding coronavirus.
If you have questions or concerns regarding the virus please send an email to
If you call after hours please leave a message and someone will call you back the next business day.
If you need information, you can also go the Health Department website, http://health.co.lake.ca.us/Coronavirus.htm .
Thank you,
Gary Pace, MD, MPH
County of Lake Health Officer
031820 LC Shelter in Place Order by LakeCoNews on Scribd
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Dr. Gary Pace went to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday morning to update county leaders about developments in the efforts to protect the community against COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
He acknowledged the hardship for everyone, from financial challenges to children being out of school in the wake of a countywide public school closure that went into effect on Monday and continues through April 10.
“I think it’s going to be challenging for everybody,” he said.
Pace said he doesn’t know how long the situation will continue, and hopefully the illness will pass by the community. “It’s a sobering time.”
Globally, he said the situation is continuing to unfold. There is starting to be a real rise in the number of US cases, which led to the president calling for a national emergency.
He said Bay Area counties are clamping down and encouraging people to shelter at home, as are Lake’s neighboring counties. On Monday, Pace issued two public health orders, one relating to the school closures and the other for limiting groups.
“We’re seeing this thing exponentially move,” and he said he’s taking a cue and watching what is going on in the Bay Area in order to try to stay a step ahead of things.
Pace said “a couple dozen” people in Lake County have been tested for the virus, although so far none of that testing has yielded a confirmed case.
“The testing issues are huge. And it’s not a county issue,” he said, explaining that, statewide and nationally, there have been issues with testing capacity.
Testing has been done through regional public health labs and private companies, he said.
Pace reported that the private lab company used by Adventist Health Clear Lake Hospital rejected samples sent to them by the hospital for testing because they don’t have the capacity and are overwhelmed by testing demand.
“We’re helping them find other routes,” Pace said of the hospital.
He said another private testing company has a capacity to do 1,200 tests a week for the western region but has a seven-day turnaround time, which he said is a nightmare from a doctor’s point of view.
The public health lab in Santa Rosa is now running 40 tests a day for three counties – Sonoma, Mendo and Lake. However, Pace said that testing requires the patients to meet very specific criteria, such as having had contact with a sick person or being very sick themselves, including being on a ventilator.
Pace said Lake County Public Health is getting questions about testing all day long. “There’s no good answer.”
If only about 20 people have been tested, how can we know it’s not in Lake County, Pace asked. Then, answering his own question, he said, “We have not seen a surge in illnesses or things that would make us concerned about that, but it’s certainly possible.”
He added, “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s in the community.”
Pace said he wants to do surveillance for the illness as has been done in places like Marin and Sonoma counties, where cases have been found.
He said he is trying to get the testing capability for surveillance and he’s in communication with the regional lab, which also is having trouble with its capacity.
The California Office of Emergency Services may be able to help with drive-through testing. “We’re still very early in that conversation,” Pace said.
On Sunday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state has made arrangements to start drive-through testing. Pace said that testing is starting at two sites, one in San Mateo County and another in Santa Clara County, which are in the hotbeds of the outbreak.
Pace said testing – from a clinical and outbreak management point of view – is the biggest problem, and it’s a problem everywhere.
The situation is very confusing and changing all the time. Pace said he hopes to have good news next week about expanded testing capacity.
The longer the infection can be kept out of Lake County and its spread minimized, the better off the community will be, Pace said.
He said his biggest concern relates to the local hospitals. “Our health care facilities are vulnerable.”
The two hospitals have a total of eight ventilators for a population of 65,000 people. Pace said that’s a concern because COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, especially in the more severe cases. Ventilators allow the more serious patients to survive, but they need to stay on the machines for a few weeks.
Pace said the Public Health strategy is to slow down the illness before it gets into Lake County, so if it does get here, it will be at a manageable level.
The places that have been most successful in stopping the illness, he said, have put a blanket on social interaction, done testing and quickly gotten sick people into quarantine.
Later on Tuesday, county officials reported that Pace is preparing to issue a shelter in place order for Lake County. That order could come as soon as Wednesday.
Email Elizabeth Larson at