LAKE COUNTY— The spike in COVID-19 cases impacting rural counties has not spared Lake County according to the latest update posted on the county’s Public Health department’s website, which at press time Friday reported an increase of 47 new cases and a spike in the testing positivity rate to over 6 percent. (an increase of 2.3 percent from the previous week.) This brings the current total of active cases to 54.
County administration reported last week “testing positivity and daily case rates had begun to increase after an all-time low during mid-June” and added that two cases of the COVID-19 delta variant had been identified in the county. The weekly breakdown on the website dating back to early June shows a spike in the last couple of weeks. It shows 50 cases as of the last update on Tuesday.
The percentage of the population fully vaccinated in Lake County according to the latest update stands at under 50 percent with the Health Department data showing 43.5 percent of residents are still unvaccinated.
COVID-19 Data Reconciliation: Recent deaths or old data?
Officials also noted during their last official communication with the public that “County Public Health medical staff are currently undertaking a significant effort to appropriately document COVID-19-related deaths, applying criteria provided by the California Department of Public Health.” They added, “documentation regarding dozens of deaths not previously recognized as COVID-related was recently sent to counties across the state,” They noted that thus far, the process had resulted in the identification of 11 additional Lake County-connected COVID-related deaths, bringing the total to 56. At press time, that total has increased to 65.
According to COVID-19 public data reported by nursing homes to the Center for Disease Control and the federal government, there have been 19 resident deaths reported by the combined residential facilities in Lake County dating back to April of this year, with Rocky Point Center in Lakeport reporting four deaths, Lakeport Post Acute reporting 11 and Clearlake’s Meadowbrook Nursing center reporting another four over the same time period.
Senior Centers to remain closed for congregate meals
Despite most businesses reopening June 15 in California, the county’s senior centers remain closed for indoor dining services, with various center directors in Lake County citing various factors including the need for safety of staff and guests.
Joyce Overton, director of the Highlands Senior Center in Clearlake and a member of the Clearlake City Council said a meeting of the Area Agency on Aging will take place on July 15 where directors will discuss whether the facilities will remain closed.
The city of Clearlake had been considering opening up their facility this month but Overton said she would want to see the data regarding the spike in COVID cases countywide before making the determination of whether or not to open the center. “I would want to see the time period, information on age groups and to know exactly what happened, were there any complications before each death?”
Overton said she feels that there are ways the bigger centers could open safely observing COVID protocols as to not put anyone at risk. “I feel more people are dying because of the COVID but not because they have COVID,” she said pointing to isolation and some of the social ramifications associated with the limitations placed on seniors during the pandemic.
One recent concern brought up by residents has been extreme summer temperatures with fewer options to at risk seniors with the centers still closed, although the county has recently made available information on where people can go to find relief from the extreme heatwaves.
The County health Department is going through a transition with the departure of Dr. Gary Pace in April. Dr. Evan Bloom has been acting as interim County Health Officer but declined to answer any questions about the uptick in cases, stating that as of last Thursday (July 1), he is no longer the county health officer. No one at County Health Department returned calls or emails by press time about COVID updates during the transition during the end of Bloom’s tenure and the potential start of a replacement for Pace, but county administration noted “further updates are expected.”
