Mendocino County ‘moving in the right direction,’ health officer reports
Mendocino County Public Health Officer Andy Coren said Friday that the county as a whole was “moving in the right direction” in terms of containing the numbers of Covid-19 cases enough to eventually relax more restrictions on businesses.
“The county is still in the purple tier (the state’s most restrictive category), but when we move to the red tier, a lot more industries can open up,” Coren said. “We are still in purple, but I want to let people know we are (moving) in the right direction (toward red and orange.)”
As of Friday afternoon, Coren said 11 new cases had been confirmed for a total of 822, with four patients hospitalized and two people in the Intensive Care Unit, one in Kentfield and one in Davis.
“Also, another death was confirmed this week for a total of 18,” said Coren, describing the “latest soul lost” as an elderlyHispanic woman.
“This week, unfortunately, we also ran into an outbreak at a large retail establishment, the Ken Fowler Auto Center, which gave us nine new cases,” he said, describing the business as “trying to follow all the guidance, but this is a reminder that even with the best of compliance, contagion is possible.”
He said the business was working “very closely” with his department, “closing and completing a very deep cleaning, and they’ve invited us to look around and figure out what gaps there were. They have already found some gaps in masking, such as in the break room, and (identified) some tight spaces where it is hard to achieve social distancing.”
With the annual flu season approaching, Coren said he was “very concerned about the convergence of the influenza epidemic and the Covid-19 pandemic,” urging people to get a flu vaccine, which he said was critically important for healthworkers, and to stay home fromwork if they don’t feel well.
“Don’t feel like you have to go work if you feel sick,” he said, adding that wearing a mask will not completely protect others from either influenza or Covid-19. “We’re hoping that masking will cut down on some of the transmission of influenza, but we’re urging people to still get the vaccine, because a mask is not enough protection.”
When asked whether having so many firefighters from other areas coming into the county to help fight the August Complex and other fires could bring more cases of Covid-19 into the area, Coren acknowledged that it could, but said the protocols being followed by firefighters were very reassuring.
“I went up to their encampment here at the fairgrounds (in Ukiah) and learned what their internal precautions are, and was incredibly impressed,” said Coren, describing each firefighter as “walking through a screening area before they come into the encampment, every single time.” And once in the camp they remain in small groups of cohorts “who eat together, sleep together and fight fires together.”
Coren said that the inmate crews are subject to the same protocols, so I think they are “containing their Covid exposure to each and to the community as much as I think is possible. So I was very impressed, and I think the whole community should be as well.”
County officials said Sept. 19 Covid-19 update will be the last on a weekly schedule. The next update will be Oct. 2, as they will be presented every two weeks from now on.