WILLITS, 7/23/20 — One more person has died of the coronavirus disease in Mendocino County, this time at Howard Memorial Hospital, bringing the total number of deaths to four. (For graphs and statistics see below)
Given the private nature of any death, details remain sparse, but we do know that this person was not a resident of the Sherwood Oaks nursing home and not connected to that outbreak. The deceased’s name, sex, age or other details have not been released, nor has their former area of residence — however, the we do know that the family has been informed.
This is the first COVID death at a hospital in Mendocino County, of the three other people who have died two died at the Sherwood Oaks nursing home, and the fourth at an rehab center in Marin County.
At the press conference tomorrow Mendocino Public Health Officer Dr. Noemi Doohan is expected to provide additional details as to the identity of the deceased and the nature of their death. The county was informed of the death by Howard Hospital, but a spokesperson for the hospital explained that information about the patient would not be divulged, in accordance with privacy regulations, and that details would be forthcoming from the health officer tomorrow.
The COVID count continues to rise with another hitting 234, with another seven cases today, five total in the hospital, one in ICU, and four total deaths due to the disease.
Jason Wells, president of Adventist Health in Mendocino, which operates all three hospitals in the county, made the following statement:
Our hearts break for the family and friends and I know that they do not grieve alone.
Our staff has been incredibly resilient through this pandemic. This is hard. Day after day they come to work and continue to care for our community. The hospital, with all of our protocols and protections is perhaps one of the more safe public, indoor places in a county with known community spread. We temperature check everyone into the campus and all are masked and are using hand sanitizer in regular intervals.
We have multiple negative pressure rooms that keeps all air inside the room and runs that air through an impressive filtration system. Outside of sheltering at home with no visitors, the hospital may be one of the safer locations because of the professionalism and expertise of the team serving our community.
Jason Wells, Adventist Health
Graphs
Good info. I’m one of the endangered population and am doing my best to protect myself and my wife. I would like to be able to find what was called the “dasboard” graph. It was fast and easy to read without many intersecting lines confusing the picture .