Virus up in Covelo, Point Arena

Mendocino County nearing 1,000 COVID-19 cases

By Sunday, Mendocino County could very likely have 1,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, after 17 more people were diagnosed with the virus Friday evening for a total of 988.

“There have been 19 deaths in

Mendocino County, the most recent being a 51-year- old white male who died at U.C. Davis after over a month of suffering respiratory, renal, cardiac disease,” said Mendocino County Public Health Officer Andy Coren during a public update Oct 2. “And as you can see at 51-years- old, he was a young man; he was a young member of our community and we mourn his passing.”

As of Friday afternoon, Coren reported that nine Covid patients were hospitalized, three of whom were Hispanic, including the one patient in the Intensive Care Unit. Six of the patients were hospitalized in Mendocino County, and three were outside of the county.

Coren said that the county “continues to be in the purple tier of the governor’s framework for reopening,” and that the county’s “case rate seven-day average, seven days ago, has risen to 12.86, and that has doubled since two weeks ago when I last spoke with you.

“So why is there such an increase?” Coren continued. “Well, we know we’re still in the surge from Labor Day, and gatherings is what we point to (as the cause.)

But gatherings can be both big parties and small parties. Two families, a group of friends — that’s a gathering, and that’s one of the reasons why we have these increases at times of holidays.”

Coren also pointed to recent outbreaks such as the one at Ken Fowler Auto Center that he said led to 21 employees being infected, as well as newer outbreaks in Covelo and Point Arena.

“And our case investigators have had some problems with people who are afraid to answer questions, or not being thorough in terms of workplaces and schools, and this impedes our ability to control the spread of the infection,” he said, adding that the county has been seeking assistance from tribal representatives in both the Manchester/ Point Arena area as well as Covelo, and thanked in particular “our partners at the Round Val

ley Clinic, as their case investigators contacted almost 90 people in 30 households” while tracing contacts, and “had 100-percent cooperation from the people they called.”

Bekkie Emery, manager of the county’s Department Operations Center, clarified that the 90 people Coren referred to in Round Valley included 14 people who tested positive, and 76 people who were identified as close contacts who have been placed into quarantine.

Coren asked that anyone who is contacted regarding possible exposure to “please be forthright and complete in trying to remember all of

those that you’ve had contact with, ( because) that’s the only way that we can wrap around these outbreaks and bring this under control.”

As to the Point Arena outbreak, Emery said that eight people so far had tested positive there and that just under 100 people were tested in the area by the county earlier this week. However, she said those tests will have to be repeated “because we did have problems with those samples, and all were invalidated.” Coren clarified that “the difficulty we had with the samples was with the laboratory storage. And it may be that since we did

not find any positives in that first round, there won’t be any in the next, but it’s an unreliable sample.”

Coren also pointed to the news that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the virus as proving that “no one is spared from this; the risks are real, and that compliance with the health orders requiring masks and social distancing is dependent on personal choice (to actually follow them.) These are our weapons in this battle, and I think if we all commit, we can move to a red tier and start to open more businesses.”