Stanislaus County ends emergency declaration though COVID pandemic is ‘not over yet’
Stanislaus County leaders voted Tuesday to call off a local health emergency after two years of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
The unanimous Board of Supervisors vote terminated the health emergency declared by the county health officer on March 11, 2020, and followed a presentation by public health staff on the decline of omicron variant infections.
The local health emergency, coming a week after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s state of emergency for California, allowed the county to respond more effectively to outbreaks of COVID-19.
The declaration gave the county access to federal and state resources for responding to the contagious disease. County staff added that it raised the level of public attention to the health crisis; in addition, first-responder agencies and health care providers were able to make out-of-county requests for assistance not available locally.
As of Monday, hospitals in the Modesto area had 58 patients confirmed with COVID illness, including 13 in intensive care units. The county’s case rate was 11.5 per 100,000 population, and test positivity was 5.1%.
Nine deaths were reported in the most recent update on the county’s COVID-19 dashboard.
“We think the circumstances have changed now,” said Mary Ann Lilly, managing director of the county Health Services Agency. “We don’t know what is to come, but hopefully we are not going to have to reverse course.”
Since the start of the year, county staff has shifted focus to responding to COVID-19 as an endemic illness that’s similar to other contagious diseases such as influenza. Vaccines, booster shots and treatments are readily available in local communities to protect residents against the respiratory illness, staff said.
Health officials said they can’t predict what recurrences of COVID-19 will look like down the road. Lilly said about 70% of county residents age 5 or older have received at least one dose of COVID vaccine and people have some immunity from previous infection.
“While the pandemic is not over yet, the emergency phase of the pandemic response is ending,” a county staff report said.
The state and county have relaxed face-covering requirements, though masks still are required on public transit and in health care facilities, homeless shelters and other high-risk settings.
County public health officials still recommend masks in indoor public settings as a layer of protection along with vaccine, social distancing and good hygiene. Residents are asked to use their judgment to keep from catching an unpredictable case of COVID.
Stanislaus County has lost 1,685 residents to the coronavirus since the first case of infection was reported here in March 2020. But county leaders said it’s time for a new phase in the response to COVID-19.
County public health staff will still deliver monthly updates on the coronavirus situation at Board of Supervisors meetings.
“This is great we are coming to this point,” Board Chairman Terry Withrow. “It has been a long road for all of us.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 1:02 PM.
