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FILE – This Feb. 22, 2014, file photo shows a business in downtown Cedarville, California, Modoc County.
FILE – This Feb. 22, 2014, file photo shows a business in downtown Cedarville, California, Modoc County.
Photo: Jeff Barnard, Associated Press
FILE – This Feb. 22, 2014, file photo shows a business in downtown Cedarville, California, Modoc County.
FILE – This Feb. 22, 2014, file photo shows a business in downtown Cedarville, California, Modoc County.
Photo: Jeff Barnard, Associated Press
A remote California county bordering Oregon and Nevada that was the first to challenge state shutdown orders to prevent the spread of the coronavirus has confirmed its first cases of COVID-19.
Rural Modoc County in northeast California has two confirmed cases of COVID-19, both from the same home, the county’s Department of Public Health statement said in a statement Tuesday.
Authorities identified people who may have had close contact with the people, who isolated themselves in their homes and were not hospitalized, the department said, adding that people sponsoring a local bar were asked to call the authorities.
“How lucky we have been to not see COVID-19 in our county so far, but it is here and we could see an increase in the number of cases in the coming weeks,” said Stacy Sphar, director of health services for Modoc County.
Sphar urged residents to “respect and follow” federal guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control to reduce transmission of COVID-19.
The county Sheriff’s Office used social media to ask people to use preventative measures that kept the county virus-free for months.
“Now is the time to come together to support not only our residents but also our public health officials,” the office said.
The county of approximately 9,000 residents on May 1 defied Governor Gavin Newsom’s orders by reopening businesses and restaurants not essential for dinner service.
At the time, California had just surpassed 50,000 infections and 2,000 deaths, but that seemed like a world far from Modoc, a journey of at least six hours from San Francisco to a region of forests, features of volcanic landscapes, farms, and just one incorporated city. , Heights
After six weeks of home stay and business closure directives, county officials allowed the reopening after what they said was careful planning with limits on the number of clients within companies and precautions such as physical distancing.
Newsom subsequently began allowing counties to reopen. But infections in California began to spike in June, and this month it again imposed shutdown orders on many businesses, while banning internal religious services and school instruction in most of the state.
The state has now had more than 466,500 cases and more than 8,500 deaths, according to the California Department of Public Health.
Modoc is one of the few counties in California with only a few cases, but the distance from highly populated metropolitan centers has not proven to be a barrier to the virus.
On Monday, Newsom announced plans to improve testing in the state’s Central Valley farming region and send strike teams of health workers to help hospitals solve the cases.
On the state’s far northwest coast, Humboldt County surpassed 220 cases this week, raising concerns about the rate of new infections.
“It took 105 days for our county to reach 109 cases, but we doubled that number in just 45 days,” said Dr. Teresa Frankovich, county health officer.
