A marathon Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting ended Thursday with no action taken, meaning that the purple tier restrictions will go into effect as directed by the state officials. Hours and hours of public comment was heard from people present at the meeting as well as those commenting through voicemail. They included some in favor of following the blueprint for a safer economy as mandated by the state, but the large majority of comments were in favor of defying the state guidelines and allowing businesses to remain open. Both Leonard Moty and Les Baugh said they were disappointed with Bethel Church co-founder Kris Vallotton for officiating a large family wedding and reception last weekend while Bethel School of Supernatural Ministries is still one of the primary sources of the local COVID-19 outbreak. As it stands, the purple tier restrictions will be in place beginning Friday. The county has until now taken a local position of “enforcement through education”, and a number of business owners have said they will refuse to close, but earlier this week Shasta County Public Health Branch Director Robin Schurig suggested that state agencies will likely take a more aggressive enforcement role now that the county has entered a more severe level of restrictions.
Shasta County has reported 23 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 1,839, with 30 deaths. There are 143 active cases. 8 are hospitalized with 3 in intensive care. 333 people are quarantined due to possible exposure.
Butte County has now had 3,030 cases with 52 deaths, and they’ve moved to the less restrictive orange tier. Tehama County has had 828 cases with 8 deaths. 25 cases have now been confirmed in Trinity County. Glenn County has had 652 cases and 3 deaths. Lassen County has had one death among 124 cases in the community and 637 in prison. There have been 187 cases in Siskiyou County and 558 in Humboldt County with 9 deaths. Modoc County has reported 28 cases.
Public Health says that no single prevention method is perfect, so they recommend a layered approach, using a combination of physical distancing, ventilation, face coverings, hand washing and surface cleaning. Most importantly, officials stress the need to stay home when sick. Another vital component is widespread testing.
There have been 58,720 negative tests in Shasta County. There are several free options to get tested, which can be found by going to shastaready.org and clicking on “get tested”.