Cases may be hiding in Covelo

Doohan: ‘I believe this outbreak may have gone underground’

Believing there may be hidden cases of COVID-19 resulting from a recent outbreak in a remote corner of northeastern Mendocino County, Public Health Officer Dr. Noemi Doohan announced this week that county officials would begin offering anonymous testing in Covelo.

“To the best of our knowledge, the Covelo outbreak (of seven people living in two households) has been contained with respect to the Round Valley Reservation,”

Doohan said. “However, it is my opinion as your health officer that this outbreak has gone underground in the town of Covelo, where we do believe, based on our contact tracing, that there may have been some contacts in the town of Covelo that we have been reaching out to, but have not been able to contact.

“And so at this point, we’re going to offer free, anonymous testing in Covelo,” Doohan continued, explaining that people will be asked to provide only a phone number so they can be called with the results. “And this is an effort to break through any barriers for people who are afraid of being tested, or afraid of what contact with Public Health might mean.”

So far, county officials have conducted three rounds of surveillance testing on the reservation, the last of which was completed Friday. Doohan said that no more cases of COVID-19 were identified during that testing beyond the seven cases already reported from two households.

As of Tuesday, the county was still reporting only 12 total con

firmed cases of COVID-19, but Doohan pointed out that those numbers only include official residents of the county.

As far as increasing testing overall, it was announced Tuesday by state Sen. Mike McGuire that “a state-sponsored testing site will be up and running in Mendocino County soon. Specific details and logistics on the site are currently being organized between the county and the California Department of Public Health.”

Nurse tests positive in Fort Bragg

However, Doohan said that another case has been identified in Fort Bragg, describing the person as a nurse who lives in Oregon but who was working in Fort Bragg at the Mendocino Coast District Hospital, currently being taken over by Adventist Health.

“But they do not live in our county, so this is not a case that we would report and follow, but we stand ready to assist Adventist Health as they look into who might nave been exposed to this nurse while she was working,” Doohan said, adding that 30 tests have been taken so far of people who may have had contact with the nurse. “And those were being processed (Tuesday) at the Ukiah hospital.”