Sonoma County Board of Supervisors chairperson Susan Gorin on Tuesday stressed the need for urgent action to address the coronavirus outbreak, a broader level of community transmission that stabilizes the county’s ability to reopen more industries and public spaces as the other two area counties show. Progress.
During a meeting of virtual supervisors, Gori said local residents and business leaders are constantly asking what the county’s new daily Covid-19 is doing to reduce infection, which could lead to more commercial activities under the state’s four-phase reopening plan for 58 counties.
Since the end of August Gust, Sonoma County has reached the bottom stage of reopening, so months-long strict restrictions will have to be put in place to not provide indoor food-drink service in restaurants, wine tasting rooms and bubbles.
“Everyone is hurting and very stressed and we hope that maybe we can see some light at the end of this tunnel by taking some action.”
Her comments were directed at County Administrator Sheryl Breton and Health Services Director Barbie Robinson, who are leading the development of a new multifaceted strategic plan to address the serious health and economic effects of the epidemic.
County public health officials say the plan should be finalized this week, which includes: increasing the COVID-19 test; Offering financial assistance to residents who contract the virus but who have not taken sick leave from their employer; And hotel vouchers for low-income residents who have tested positive for infectious but cannot effectively separate at home from family members.
Bretton said the plan also includes working with the local business community to increase financial support for employees who test positive for the virus. Characteristics about the final plan proposal will be presented to county supervisors at the October 20 board meeting.
Meanwhile, the county administrator told supervisors Tuesday that he would work with health department officials this week to identify sources to pay for the implementation of the new epidemic response plan.
Local officials have admitted they are trying to emulate some of the most successful public health epidemic tactics in Alameda and Santa Clara counties. Both counties have made significant progress in wrapping up the virus, enabling them to resume businesses and ease operating restrictions on others.
Robinson, director of health services, is working with members of the public health staff to finalize the details of the strategy “fever”. Robbins said the work should be completed by the end of the week.
Robinson and County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mess briefed the supervisor in private meetings on Friday and Monday about the progress of the scheme and the elements under consideration.
Such Covid-1 “emergency” legislative meetings are approved under an executive order issued earlier this year by the California government. Said Gavin News, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, David Snyder. Selection officers may receive input and information and ask questions at such meetings, but are excluded from considering any information presented to them during meetings, Snyder said.
A Press Democrat reporter on Tuesday asked the county for transcripts or notes from both private meetings. County officials have not yet commented.
In Robinson’s response, Gori described the level of public unrest as “extremely severe” and stressed the urgency of the situation and the need to tell people what new tactics the county plans to take to control the spread of the virus.
“I hope that when we put more information in the media channels we will potentially tell our community how we are moving forward on this, we will not delay in delaying the details.” Said Gori. Himself, let’s put it there. “
On Tuesday, as expected, state public officials announced that Sonoma County would be at the most restrictive level of reopening, due to the high rate of its daily Covid-19 cases.
The state evaluates counties every Tuesday using three metrics that measure success or failure in controlling the virus. That’s the new daily cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the overall test positivity percentage and the test positivity rate in the county’s most deprived neighborhood.
In Tuesday’s assessment, the county’s virus transmission rate falls below the threshold in 10.6 new daily cases per 100,000 to qualify for progress under state guidelines. That’s 8 or fewer new daily cases per 100,000 people.
The positivity level of the county’s two tests is 5% for the county as a whole and 7.5% for disadvantaged dwellings in local communities. The latter is known as the health equity metric. While the positivity rate of testing for resumption of progress by state health officials is below the 8% minimum, the county is held back by its high virus transmission levels.
If Sonoma County can meet the state’s minimum requirements on all three benchmarks, it could resume indoor businesses with limited capacity of others in restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and museums. Also, businesses that are already allowed to operate indoors will be able to increase their current in-house operating capacity.
As the epidemic continues to weigh heavily on the economy and the residents who sign the COVID-19 agreement, Gori said there is a “growing sense of urgency” among local businesses and residents to take the necessary steps to speed up local authorities. Reopen the county.
You can reach staff writer Martin Espinoza 707-521-5213 or [email protected]. Pressreno on Twitter.
