UPDATE 5/29/20, 11:10 a.m. — There is now community spread in Mendocino County:
COVID TESTING & VACCINE INFO: For more information on COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and masking, contact the Mendocino County Public Health COVID19 Call Center at (707) 472-2759 or visit their website here. You can read our ongoing coverage of the pandemic here, and find the current county COVID-19 data here.
WILLITS, 5/28/20 — Religious gatherings in houses of worship, though with significantly reduced building capacity, as well as in person political protests will once more be allowed in Mendocino County under a new public health order issued today, which brings the county in line with new state rules. (Read the notice below)
And while reopening continues apace, the rate of new confirmed cases also continues to accelerate, with five more cases today, coming on the heels of two yesterday, bringing the total in Mendocino County to 30. Indeed, more than half of all cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Mendocino County have been found in the past ten days.
Earlier this week Governor Newsom announced new rules to allow for certain kinds of public gatherings, and close contact (or higher risk) businesses to reopen including hairstylists and barbers. However, for those rules to take effect on the local level, a new public health order from the Mendocino Co. public health officer, Dr. Noemi Doohan, was required. Doohan issued the order this afternoon and it will go into effect tonight at midnight.
In brief the restrictions on religious gathering will limit occupancy at religious services to 25% of normal building occupancy or 100 people, whichever is smaller. Houses of worship will be required to conduct various cleaning and social distancing practices as well. (For more details check out the state’s guidelines document)
(For all the details on the new health orders, including the test, check out the county’s website)
Another revised order was issued reiterating the requirement for people to wear masks in public. The new order clarifies some language and makes requirements for wearing of masks stricter, for instance insisting on the wearing of masks for people preparing food outside of their own homes, including cooks. However, it also allows for people not to wear masks within their social bubbles.
Notwithstanding anything else in this order, any person preparing,
Public Health order
handling or serving food for sale or for consumption by individuals outside of their household, living unit or Social Bubble shall wear a facial covering the entire time while engaged in such preparing, handling or serving of food.
Likewise hairstylists and barbers will be required to have similar safety precautions in place, which can also be read at this website.
Public Health announced the five additional cases this evening, saying on Facebook:
Public Health is confirming 5 additional cases of #COVID19 in Mendocino County. 3 of the 30 total cases are still under investigation. Please see the dashboard below for the demographic info we have available at this time. Join us for our live Friday Update tomorrow with Dr. Doohan for more information as it emerges.
Mendocino Public Health
Based on the new dashboard image published by Public Health, all five new cases are residents of what Public Health calls the Ukiah Valley area, which includes: Ukiah, Talmage, Calpella, Redwood Valley, Potter Valley. Four of the new cases are men, and one a woman. As to age, of the new cases one is 18 or younger, two are 19 – 34, one is 35 – 49, and one 50 – 64.
Supervisor Ted Williams made the following statement earlier today via Facebook, at the time that he did the additional cases were only four, there are now five:
We have 29 cases. At the rate we’re going, we could reach 40 within a week. Applying statistics, ten percent would be hospitalized, half of those would end up in the intensive care unit and half of those would die. We’ve had a few hospitalizations. Please consider using facial coverings as a means to mitigate spread, protect the vulnerable and save our fragile economy from further pain.
Ted Williams via Facebook
Here is the notice from Public Health:
Health Officer Issues Revised Health Order Aligning with Statewide Guidance on New Allowable Activities
Post Date: 05/28/2020 6:00 PM
This week Governor Gavin Newsom announced that counties approved for accelerated reopening can begin to reopen hair salons and barbershops. In addition, statewide Places of Worship can reopen with modifications and in-person protests can occur with modifications.
In response to these recent State Changes, Health Officer Dr. Noemi Doohan issued a revised Shelter-In-Place (SIP) Order today, Thursday, May 28, 2020, reflecting the new Permissible Higher Risk Businesses and related activities. The major changes include:
- Places of worship, such as churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues may open for limited capacity in-person religious services and cultural ceremonies provided that Statewide Places of Worship Guidance is followed.
- Funeral Services expanded with strict adherence to the same limited capacity and other restrictions outlined in the Places of Worship Guidance.
- Hair salons and barbershops may open for limited haircut-related services and are required to follow statewide guidance and complete a local business self-certification process at wwww.mendocinocountybusiness.org prior to opening.
- In-person political protests are allowed with modifications and must adhere to safety measures identified by the State and outlined in the Health Officer’s Order.
The Health Officer has also expanded the very limited use of Shared Pools subject to the Order’s restrictions for pool-based physical therapy (as prescribed by a medical professional)
Mendocino County’s revised SIP goes in effect tonight Thursday, May 28 at 11:59 p.m. and will be in place until June 12, 2020.
The Health Order and a summary of the major changes are available online at https://www.mendocinocounty.org/community/novel-coronavirus/health-order. The order is enforceable by imprisonment and/or fine thus we urge all residents to closely read the order and follow it.
In response to questions from the public the Facial Covering Order has been updated to clarify that all persons must wear facial coverings before they enter any indoor facility, or any enclosed open space, besides their residence, while inside any indoor facility or any enclosed open space, besides their residence, except as otherwise specifically provided in this order. In additional, any person preparing, handling or serving food for sale or for consumption by individuals outside of their household, living unit or Social Bubble shall wear a facial covering the entire time while engaged in such preparing, handling or serving of food. Further, employers/business owners and operators shall ensure that employees are wearing facial coverings in compliance with this Order.
BEFORE businesses can reopen, they must comply with State and County guidelines, and file the Mendocino County self-certification form, developed by the County of Mendocino in collaboration with West Business Development Center, found at www.mendocinocountybusiness.org. Healthcare facilities licensed by the California Department of Public Health are exempt from this self-certification requirement.
More information on Governor Newsom’s resilience roadmap and four-staged plan to reopen California, please visit: https://covid19.ca.gov/roadmap/. For more information on the businesses/sectors that fall within the various stages of re-opening, please view the Resilience Roadmap Business Sector Chart. The Mendocino County approved attestation is available to view on the California Department of Public Health’s Website.
For more on COVID-19:
Call Center: (707) 234-6052 or email [email protected]
The call center is open Monday-Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
How was the sale at Ross?
Seems to me that re-opening and allowing public gatherings right as we are hitting community spread is backwards thinking. We are seeing increases, not decreases or even leveling off. That may be appropriate is other places, but not here where we are on the wrong side of the curve. It just took longer to hit us. So should t we wait before reopening? I know it is a serious hardship for a lot of people but the point is to decrease/ stop spread.
Adrian Fernandez Baumann , please check the headline for grammar and spelling. Should the phrase: “5 new of cases COVID today” be “5 KNEW of cases” or “5 new (-of) cases” without an “of?”