The following is a letter to the editor submitted by Mendocino County District 3 Supervisor John Haschak, published here as a column, in which he updates his constituents. We encourage the other supervisors to submit letters — we will happily publish them. You can see Haschak’s previous letters to his constituents here. The opinions expressed in this letter are the author’s, not those of The Mendocino Voice.
3rd District Supervisor Update
3/30/20
John Haschak
Saving lives is the goal. Mendocino County has strict shelter in place orders from our Public Health Officer. Our job is to follow the orders. Since one may have the disease yet be asymptomatic, it is necessary to limit oneself to the essential activities and maintain physical distancing from others. If we follow these orders, we can flatten the curve and save lives.
The Governor and Dr. Doohan, our Public Health Officer, say that this Shelter in Place may go on for another 4 to 8 weeks. No one knows how this might play out but we need to face what the professional health experts see coming ahead. For Mendocino County Public Health updates, go to https://www.mendocinocounty.org/community/novel-coronavirus/notifications
Dr. Doohan wants everyone to know that if you feel sick, stay at home, isolate, then call your doctor or clinic. This allows the medical staff to properly address the illness to prevent the spread of any disease.
The reality is that we are in this for a long period. The surge of medical cases will hit the Bay Area. Hospitals will be inundated with cases. Being further removed from the population centers is to our advantage. We need to maximize this advantage by flattening the spike because our facilities can’t handle many critical situations.
The County has been arranging for facilities to handle isolation and quarantine cases outside of limited hospital beds. Testing, personal protective equipment, and ventilators are needed here just like all around the country. Our county staff has been working non-stop to acquire more of these health supplies and equipment. With this lack of proper equipment, we need to do everything we can personally to stay well.
Closing parks and beaches and other public areas may seem harsh. Part of the reasoning for doing this is that it has been difficult to maintain physical distancing and if people in the Bay Area know that our parks are open for relief and recreation, we will be inundated.
The Board of Supervisors placed a ban on rental evictions until May 31. The Governor did it statewide a day or two afterwards. I have sponsored an agenda item which says that the BOS will only consider issues that are essential to county functions, pertain to Covid-19, or are of a non-controversial nature and can be placed on the consent calendar. This proposal will be considered on March 31. We need total focus on the crisis at hand.
Stay well.
John
When we asked for help from the good senator mike McGuire when my wife of 40 years was attacked by a known domestic abuser he gave us the finger and sent law enforcement to our home to intimidate and abuse us a second time.