Stanislaus County efforts to lift coronavirus closures create confusion for some
Stanislaus County has mostly been a cool spot on the map of coronavirus outbreaks in California. But the county saw a rapid increase in new cases earlier this month and now infections at a Turlock nursing home show the epidemic remains a threat.
The number of confirmed cases rose to 264 on Friday, including five deaths, while 187 people have recovered since the first cases were reported March 11.
Those numbers did not include Friday’s news that at least three staff members and three employees tested positive for the coronavirus at a Turlock nursing home.
Turlock Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on East Tuolumne Road said it’s conferring with state and county health departments about the situation. The infected health care workers are noted on a California Department of Public Health list of coronavirus cases at nursing homes.
“We continue to operate by the highest standards of safety, and in full compliance with guidance from these health departments, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services,” the update said.
The news out of Turlock comes as the county’s top officials have been resting easier and making plans for reopening sectors of business and public activity while maintaining safe distancing practices.
Some suggest it’s too early to relax restrictions and criticized the county for sending mixed messages when community parks were reopened to the public late last week.
Residents were confused when an amended county health order was released Wednesday without explanation. The county posted on its Stanemergency social media page at 11:30 a.m. Thursday that community parks were opening Friday.
An hour earlier, a Stanemergency post, showing a dog balancing a biscuit on its snout, had urged residents to be patient and flatten the disease curve by staying home.
“This is a mixed message considering the relaxed outdoor restrictions and opening of parks you announced (Wednesday),” posted Lupe Garnica. “You can’t tell people to stay home while telling them it’s OK to go outside.”
Sarah Overholt was more succinct in one of the 110 comments on Facebook generated by the dog post. “But you just opened parks. Are you high?”
Royjindar Singh, a sheriff’s deputy who’s part of the county’s communications team, said Friday they are working on providing more information on the amended county health order and providing clearer guidance for community park use.
Wednesday’s health order, which took effect at 5 a.m. Friday, provided authority to lift restrictions on boating and fishing at the regional parks at Woodward and Modesto reservoirs. Anyone who transported their boat to the entrance of Woodward Reservoir on Friday would have found the reservoir parks remained closed until further notice.
Jackie Dwyer, director of county parks and recreation, said she’s working with the Sheriff’s Department on staffing arrangements for a safe reopening of the reservoirs and off-highway-vehicle parks. Picnicking and camping are still prohibited in the county order.
The park facilities will open in phases when parks and recreation and the sheriff’s office can provide adequate staffing, Dwyer said in an email.
Sheriff deputies that are typically assigned to maintain public safety at the reservoir parks were reassigned weeks ago to patrol residential and commercial areas during the outbreak, Dwyer explained.
The public can expect to see target dates next week for opening those park activities. Picnicking and camping at the reservoirs are still prohibited by the county order.
County parks has fishing spots open at Fox Grove in Hughson, Basso Bridge in La Grange, Laird Park in Grayson, Las Palmas near Patterson and Riverdale and Shiloh near Modesto.
Golfers return to Modesto courses
Wednesday’s health order also created a buzz by eliminating the closure of golf courses, where golfers returned Friday after weeks of home confinement.
Carmen Ingols, a regular golfer in Modesto, said she believes golf courses and parks with their wide spaces could have been excluded from the original coronavirus closure orders. The city of Modesto opened the Dryden and Creekside courses on Friday under social distancing requirements.
“The (reopening) rules they have are very strict,” Ingols wrote in an email Friday. “This could have been done in the beginning. I am in favor of the reopening and look forward to seeing my friends.”
Steve Yauch of the Modesto Par Tee group said the city’s Creekside course was allowing twosomes on foot. But no cart rentals.
Yauch said a tournament scheduled at La Contenta in Valley Springs this month was canceled. But his group hopes another tourney near Sonora in May can be held.
The Modesto golfer said the safe distancing rules for Creekside make sense to him. “It will be fine. They are playing it pretty safe. There is no loitering. After you are done golfing, you go home,” Yauch said.
Top county officials, whose reopening moves are supported by seven of the mayors in Stanislaus County, have said they’re also working on distancing requirements to keep customers and employees safe when restaurants, beauty salons and stores are opened. There is no time schedule yet on those reopenings and it may depend on lifting statewide executive orders imposed to control COVID-19.
So far, new testing program sheds no light
Efforts continue to deal with the coronavirus outbreak in the community. Singh released numbers showing test specimens were collected from 274 residents from Monday to Thursday at a new drive-through site at the Salida Library; an additional 95 tests were scheduled for Friday. The testing is by appointment for eligible people who have symptoms.
Singh said the number of positive and negative test results was not available and it wasn’t clear test results from the Salida site can be separated out by Quest labs. Officials have said the testing program could create a spike in the county’s case data.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has said a framework for reopening California’s economy includes more expansive testing and contact tracing, even by using volunteers to help with monitoring people who test positive. The governor also wants to supply hospitals with more protective equipment in case there’s a surge of infected patients after his statewide stay-at-home order is lifted.
This story was originally published April 26, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
