A shortage of personal protective equipment remains an issue for Shasta County Public Health and other area medical providers. Many businesses and individuals are donating what they have stored and what they’re sewing or making on 3D printers. Shasta County Health Officer Doctor Karen Ramstrom says the federal recommendation that everyone wear masks while out in public should not be construed as a substitute for social distancing.
Rates of infection for many rural areas such as Shasta County are nearly impossible to calculate because of the shortage of extraction and testing kits. Estimates for when the peak will occur in California vary from around the end of April to mid-June. Officials say it appears the trajectory of the curve for Shasta County puts it behind the national and state trends, but that is likely due to a lack of available data. Nobody seems to know when the testing materials will become widely available.