County ends Covid emergency

Vaccine, testing clinics end April 1

The Mono County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to adopt a resolution terminating the ‘Local Health Emergency’ and ‘Local State of Emergency’ declarations, both of which were implemented by the board in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic in March of 2020.

The county public health department will now focus on more ordinary public health issues, with Covid vaccine and testing clinics ending at the end of this month.

The resolution ending the formal emergencies went into effect on Feb. 28, marking the end of a three-year-long era for Mono County.

The resolution states, “The declarations of emergency are no longer required because conditions related to Covid-19 are now within the capabilities of local health care providers and the county to manage and address.”

Mono County Public Health Officer Dr. Caryn Slack spoke to the board about the county’s plans moving forward. “Our county vaccine and testing clinics will be ending April 1,” she said. “The Public Health Department is directing residents and people back to their primary care providers. That is the direction given at the national level as well, to direct Covid management back to the primary care providers,” she said.

As the county continues to adjust to these changes, the longstanding Covid response teams will be taking on a slightly different role than they have in the past.

“Our Covid team will be staffing the Bridgeport office one to two days per week,” Slack said. She emphasized that the Covid team will be taking on a community outreach role instead of performing testing and vaccination services they had been doing.

“We’re going to continue building relationships with the community-based organizations as well as directing operations to the primary care providers in the community,” she said. “We will continue as Public Health to be a safety net, and pharmacies will

continue to provide testing and vaccination.”

The rate of Covid-19 infections has been dropping on a national level, and the federal Public Health Emergency declaration is set to end on May 11.

Although the CDC categorizes Mono County as a low risk community, it still recommends staying up to date on vaccinations, masking when appropriate, and isolating when infected.

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE:

For more information, visit https://coronavirus.monocounty.ca.gov or https://www.cdc.gov/ coronavirus.