LAKE COUNTY— The Lake County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday in favor of sending a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom in opposition to changes he announced the day prior.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier, who brought forward the letter, said he wanted to “challenge” updates to the state’s tier system. Newsom announced that with COVID-19 cases on the rise, the state would begin moving counties into a more restrictive tier after a week of higher COVID-19 cases, as opposed to two weeks, and also that tiers would be announced twice a week instead of once a week.
The changes put the vast majority of counties into the state’s most restrictive tier.
“I feel like our restaurants and our hospitality sector of our economy is like going to the beach and looking at the flag to see if you can actually go in the water today,” Sabatier said. “You cannot run a business on a biweekly basis trying to figure out if you can open up at 50%, 25%, or if you’re only outdoor.”
A few members of the public thanked the board for standing up to the state. District Four Supervisor Tina Scott said she shared concerns about impacts on businesses and asked Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace if transmission stemmed from establishments like restaurants.
“We have not traced any cases in Lake County to that, but I think that’s partly because we’ve been cautious about that,” Pace said. “There’s pretty clear evidence in other parts of the country that these — gyms, bars, indoor dining in restaurants — are all considered high-risk. In fact, I would suggest they’re much higher risk than schools and so what I really have been wanting to focus on lately is working on getting the kids back to school.”
The letter also expressed concerns about visitors from neighboring counties in purple tiers coming into Lake County, which has been in the red tier for months, during the holidays. The state issued a travel advisory discouraging residents from traveling outside of their home or region and recommending a self-quarantine of 14 days for those arriving in California from other states or countries.
