New guidelines released for private gatherings
Trends show Butte County heading to Orange Tier
Trends show Butte County heading into Orange Tier; state issues newvirus guidelines ahead of holidays.
OROVILLE » New guidance for gatherings and celebrating upcoming holidays has been issued by the state as announced by Butte County Public Health during Thursday morning’s press conference which was held over Zoom.
With Halloween being a little over two weeks away, public health officials discourage trick- or- treating as it causes mixing of households and crowding on doorsteps, said Butte County Public Health Director Danette York.
“If a case is discovered, it’ll be difficult to conduct contact tracing,” York said.
Instead of trick- or-treating, York mentioned other alternative ways to celebrate Halloween or Day of the Dead like having a scary movie night, participating in online parties and contests with dress-up themes, dressing up at home and decorating homes.
“I encourage everyone to participate in something fun,” York said.
Carnivals, festivals, live entertainment and haunted house attractions are still prohibited by the state.
“We have already moved to a less restrictive tier and we have an opportunity to keep that momentum going,” York said. “It’d be devastating for us not to be able to celebrate holidays, but it would also be devastating if we celebrate with unsafe activities and end up making ourmetrics change and case rates go up. It’s just not worth it.”
On Oct. 9 the state released guidelines for private gatherings.
Gatherings should only consist of no more than three households, last no more than two hours and must be held outdoors, York said. Social distancing should also be practiced and masks should be worn.
“Do not attend any gatherings if you are sick, and it is highly discouraged for you to attend any gatherings if you’re in a highrisk category for serious illness,” York said. “Even though private gatherings are allowed, it does not mean they are safe or low risk.”
Butte County has been in the Red Tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening guide for over two weeks, but now has the potential to move into the Orange Tier as early as Tuesday, York said.
“If our metrics remain low or continue to decrease we will qualify to move to the Orange Tier possibly by next Tuesday,” York said. “We must continue to be diligent to prevent the transmission of the virus.”
Testing and numbers
Concerns about a lack of testing were also addressed by York. York said people are refusing to get tested despite health care recommendations because if a test turns up positive, it could force the county back into more restrictive tiers.
“That way of thinking is not helpful in the long run,” York said. “Not only does the state consider our testing positivity rates but they also consider the total tests we perform throughout the county. Refusing a test could hurt our rates.”
Not getting tested because you’re afraid of hurting our tier status is not the right thing to do, York stressed.
“Please get tested or agree to a test if you’re recommended to do so,” York said.
York also said the reason the COVID-19 numbers have decreased wasn’t that the testing site at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds was temporarily unavailable for eight days, but that the halt of in-person classes and the closure of the dorms at Chico State helped lower the COVID-19 cases.
The fairgrounds site was turned into an operations camp for Cal Fire as it battled the North Complex West Zone fires.
“Chico State and Butte College also followed up with strong messaging to all their students to follow COVID prevention activities,” York said. “We believe the actions taken by the colleges have helped reduce the number of cases in Butte County.”
As of Thursday, there are currently 2,958 confirmed COVID-19 cases with six people hospitalized and 50 deaths. There are 73 active cases.
“Butte County is moving in the right direction. We are very close to moving to another tier but we are also moving into some high-risk activities,” York said. “Let’s not forget COVID-19 is a novel virus and it is still in our community. We must continue to keep our guard up.”
The high-risk activities York was referring to was the reopening of schools and other businesses.
CUSD reopening
All schools within the Chico Unified School District will be reopening Monday for in-person learning. It’ll be the first time campuses will be open since March.
Students will return to an a.m./p.m. format. For students and families who do not want to return to campus in- person, Oak Bridge Academy, the online independent study program is available. A hybrid option that allows for a student to learn online but still stay at their respective campus will also be available, but staff adjustments are still being made to accommodate that option. Teachers can volunteer to give in-person and online instruction.
“We are still making staffing changes to allow this to happen,” said Kelly Staley, superintendent of Chico Unified School District.
Kevin Bultema, the assistant superintendent of Chico Unified Business Services, said that the campuses “are ready as far as being cleaned.”
Bultema said that microfiber cloths and cleaning supplies were delivered to classrooms but that there’s “still some work to do” in terms of the social distancing signage on campuses.
“I want to emphasize we can not guarantee absolute safety,” Bultema said.
Staley also noted that the transition back to in-person learning could bring challenges.
“We know it will not be seamless,” Staley said. “But we are really excited to open our campuses on Monday.”
The district will be holding one more meeting with school staff members on Friday to go over the final details and questions about reopening.
“We’re going to be ready,” Bultema said. “We’re not going to get everything right the first time, but we’re working on it.”