Employees at seven Fort Bragg restaurants test positive
Outbreak testing was conducted in Fort Bragg last weekend after more than a dozen employees of seven of the city’s restaurants tested positive for COVID-19, Mendocino County officials reported.
Bekkie Emery, manager of the county’s Department Operation Center, said that while not all of the restaurants had three cases, which is the technical standard for declaring an outbreak, the group testing positive included people that work in more than one of the restaurants, which she described as constituting a need to “list all seven restaurants as part of this spread.”
The restaurants were identified by county staff as: Angelina’s Bar and Grill, David’s Deli and Restaurant, Denny’s, Mayan Fusion, Laurel’s Deli and Dessert, Noyo Harbor Inn and Restaurant and Silvers at the Wharf. So far, 15 employees that work at one or more of those restaurants have tested positive.
According to Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren, as of Friday there was “no evidence that people in the community got it from the employees, (and the cases were) mostly staff members that passed it among themselves.”
Coren said there was a delay in his office learning of the cases because of several factors, including that “one of the key individuals was very concerned about giving out information.” Coren said it took several calls from Public Health staff, including one from him directly, to convince the person that the information being given out was needed to complete contact tracing and would not be used against the employees or businesses.
There was outbreak testing in Fort Bragg on Sunday, which County staff “recommended for anyone who has visited, or who is employed by, one of the seven restaurants within the past two weeks.” Emery also listed two other outbreaks in the county, one of which is the ongoing outbreak at the Mendocino County Jail. She said there are currently three individuals at the facility who have tested positive, and that a total of 17 employees and 128 inmates have tested positive.
“All staff have been released from isolation, and there is testing twice a week of all inmates and staff,” she said.
The third outbreak Emery pointed to is in Round Valley, the response to which she described as an “ongoing effort” due to “several factors.” One factor is that “there are individuals that have been sharing housing,” and another factor was a memorial held recently that featured singing. And while the attendees were “carefully staying six feet apart, you need to be more than six feet apart for singing,” she said.
There was outbreak testing in Covelo last Saturday. Emery said that testing is “focusing on anyone who attended any memorials, as well as anyone who has been in contact with anyone who tested positive.”
Overall, Coren said the number of COVID-19 cases in the county have been coming down since the holidays, but so is the number of tests being performed, which he said drives up the daily average of positive cases.
“Our daily positivity rate is higher than we’d like it to be, because there is not as much testing going on,” said Coren, describing the rate of testing as down 50-percent or more from the rate in early December. He urged county residents to continue to get testing, “even if you’ve been vaccinated, because that helps us get down to the lower tiers.” Mendocino County is currently in the most-restrictive Purple Tier.
Coren urged people to “not get over confident” because of the drop in cases, but rather to “stay vigilant and keep testing after being vaccinated, and avoid parties