Shasta County Public Health has confirmed that a woman in her 70’s has died in a Redding hospital of complications from COVID-19. Officials had previously said they believed the woman had contracted the virus while in Sacramento. The deceased woman and had been in close personal contact with another Shasta County resident who also contracted the virus. Officials are trying track down anyone who may have been in contact with either of them. There have still been only three confirmed patients in Shasta County.
Siskiyou County has three confirmed Coronavirus patients and Butte County has four.
Both of Redding’s major hospitals have banned all visitors except in extreme cases, such as for relatives to see a dying loved one. Mercy will also make some exceptions for their maternity ward.
Tracing patients contacts is tricky detective work involving detailed questioning before seeking out members of the household, visitors, friends, coworkers and any other close contacts. When speaking to the potential contacts, health department investigators can’t legally even say the name of the patient. Once confirmed, a lot of follow-up is necessary to track developing symptoms