Two more Shasta County residents have died of COVID-19. They were a woman in her 70’s and a man in his 80’s. That brings the total fatalities to 52. An additional 178 cases were reported Wednesday for a total so far of 5,365. There are 52 people in the hospital, 9 of them in intensive care. Public health estimates at least 321 currently active cases. Thousands of people are under quarantine orders due to possible exposure.
The Governor has announced new stay-at-home rules that will trigger when a region’s intensive care unit capacity falls below 15%. The new rules would prohibit private gatherings of any size, require hair salons and barber shops to close, limit retail stores to 20% capacity and only allow restaurants to offer take-out and delivery. All of northern California is likely to fall under these orders within a few days.
Anyone who tests positive but has no symptoms should isolate themselves until 10 days after being tested. Those with symptoms need to be fever-free for at least 24 hours before leaving isolation.
Cal/OSHA has approved stricter new safety regulations for employers, requiring businesses to educate employees on ways to prevent infection, provide free personal protective equipment and offer free COVID-19 testing to all employees if three or more employees are infected with the Coronavirus within a 14-day period.
Tehama County has had 1,886 cases and 26 deaths.
Trinity County has had 177 cases.
Siskiyou County has had 765 cases and 4 deaths.
Butte County has had 4,302 cases and 60 deaths.
Glenn County has had 1,002 cases and 11 deaths.
Humboldt County has had 993 cases and 9 deaths.
Lassen County has had two deaths among their 584 cases in the community and one death among the 1,644 cases in prison.
Modoc County has reached 163 cases.
Widespread testing is a vital component in slowing the spread. Shasta County has reported 86,444 negative tests. A new state testing site has been set up at public health on Breslauer Way. Testing is also being done at HHSA Offices in Shasta Lake, Anderson and Enterprise. This has tripled the county’s testing capacity. Appointments for free testing at any of these sites can be made at lhi.care/covidtesting or visit shastaready.org.