Monday COVID-19 Regional Update

Tuolumne County Public Health

Sonora, CA – Two new cases were reported by Tuolumne County Public Health today along with three over the weekend. Three of the five individuals are currently in isolation, one is hospitalized, and one has recovered. Public Health notes there is community spread in all areas of Tuolumne County.

Twelve previously identified Covid-19 positive individuals have been moved from isolation to recovered. One individual who was hospitalized is now isolating at home and two have died as reported here. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reports a total of seven staff members at the Sierra Conservation Center have been confirmed positive, two have returned to work and, as previously reported, the one COVID-19 positive inmate at the prison has recovered. Prisoners count as living in Tuolumne County, the staff members are counted by the county they live in.

The number of new cases in the past 14-days qualifies Tuolumne County for California’s ‘watch list’ as detailed here.

Tuolumne residents tested 7,789*, positive 131 (65 females and 64 males), hospitalized 3, active cases 24, total recovered 105. Tuolumne’s 131 cases is .24% of Tuolumne’s 54,478 estimated 2019 population. Stanislaus is at 1.49% of its 550,660 population known to have been infected with COVID-19 which mirrors San Joaquin (10,675 of 762,148). Counties on the watchlist are indicated with an asterisk in the charts below.

Tuolumne County Public Health Updates

• If you are having COVID-like symptoms, please contact your healthcare provider or the Adventist Health Triage Line at 209-536-5166. If you need immediate medical attention, please call ahead and go to Rapid Care or the Emergency Department. You can also visit www.valleycovidhelp.com for more information.
• The number of new cases today brings our county’s 14-day case rate to 110.79/100k (11 0cases per 100,000 population), continuing to exceed the 100/100k mark, which is one of the metrics for the state’s county data monitoring program. This is now our 5^th day of a 14-day case rate exceeding 100/100k. There is a delay in state reporting, so we will not appear on the state’s list immediately and no action will be taken until we are officially on the list and have gone through the established process with the state. When we remain at this case rate according to the state reporting system for 3 consecutive days, we will be added to the state ‘watchlist’. Other metrics for the watchlist are the number of COVID hospitalizations, regular and ICU hospital bed availability, and case positivity rate. When a county is on the watchlist for 3 consecutive days, they must implement more restrictive closures and mitigation measures as determined by the state, including schools starting the year with distance learning only: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/COVID19CountyMonitoringOverview.aspx and https://covid19.ca.gov/roadmap-counties/
• The no-cost state testing site is open at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds Tuesday – Saturday 7am to 7pm. Appointments can be scheduled ahead of time at: https://lhi.care/covidtesting Appointments are strongly recommended as walk-ins are extremely limited. The site now offers testing for children ages 3 and older (accompanied by a parent or guardian).

It is important that people continue to follow prevention guidelines to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, including:

• Practice physical distancing at all times. Keep 6 feet space between yourself and others who are not part of your household. Stay in your household bubble!
• Wear a face covering in public.
• Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently.
• Avoid gatherings of any size with people who are not part of your household.
• Stay home if you are sick.
• Avoid unnecessary travel, and limit your outings to essential tasks.

LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION & RESOURCES

Community Resources Portal: https://bit.ly/TCcovidPortal

Tuolumne County Public Health Website: www.tuolumnecounty.ca.gov/publichealth

Public Health COVID-19 Call Center: (209) 533-7440

California COVID-19 website: www.covid19.ca.gov

State Testing Site info and Appointments: https://lhi.care/covidtesting

Tuolumne County Business: www.tcdisasterassistance.com

CDC COVID-19 website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

Thank you for your support and efforts to protect the safety and health of our community