Health officer discusses a wave of new coronavirus cases hitting in Stanislaus County
Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, chief health officer for Stanislaus County, discussed details of a spike in coronavirus infections as more non-essential businesses and activities are allowed to reopen later this week.
Vaishampayan gave the green light Monday for fitness centers, bars, wineries, campgrounds and other sectors to open on Friday, after her review of outbreak data and hospital capacity didn’t raise any red flags.
The county has been hit this month with the highest daily increases in residents testing positive since the coronavirus emergency began in March. New cases have averaged almost 20 per day since June 1 and 126 new infections have been reported since Sunday.
The 54 new cases reported Tuesday is the county’s highest one-day total.
The state is watching the county’s positive cases and hospital admissions, which were the criteria for a May 20 variance that allowed the county to move ahead with Stage 2 opening of non-essential businesses. It wasn’t clear whether restrictions might be coming for Stanislaus or other counties under the state’s 14-day watch.
Despite the surge of new cases, Vaishampayan said the rate of positive tests, as a seven-day average, has remained under the state’s threshold of 8 percent since late April. The county’s five hospitals have consistently had 20 to 30 confirmed COVID-19 patients in beds this month, after hospitalizations were less than 20 per day the last week in May.
Hospitals have resumed elective surgeries but usually have more than 600 beds available for a surge.
“It does not make sense to keep (non-essential) sectors closed when we can get results with messaging and behavior change,” Vaishampayan said in a presentation to county supervisors Tuesday.
Stanislaus health officer cites causes for new cases
Vaishampayan said gatherings in homes and outbreaks at workplaces were the cause for some new cases.
Two Mother’s Day parties infected a total of 20 people and 26 close contacts were told to isolate.
An outbreak at a produce packing facility in another county has sickened a lot of employees, include 16 who live in Stanislaus County, with the potential of spreading the respiratory illness to 63 known contacts, Vaishampayan said. Another cluster was associated with cases at a grocery store reported in May.
As fitness centers and hotels prepare to open Friday, Vaishampayan advised employers to closely follow social distancing guidelines and safety precautions.
“Outbreaks are happening all the time in businesses,” the health officer said. “Once (the virus) comes in it just seems to spread unless you are very careful.”
Not all the new cases are tied to clusters of infection. About 30 percent of cases are now attributed to community transmission after the rate was 25 percent for most of the coronavirus emergency.
Vaishampayan said no cases have been connected to recent protests over the death of George Floyd. County public health is planning additional messaging to discourage gatherings inside homes and encourage safe distancing.
A federal and state order for testing everyone in nursing homes will soon result in a large amount of test results, she added.
More education for Latino community
Some have questioned whether enough disease prevention information has targeted Spanish-speaking households or the Latino community. According to ethnicity data, more than 66 percent of coronavirus infections have affected Latinos, who make up 47 percent of county population, while only 23 percent of cases are white residents.
The largest surge in cases has impacted the predominately Latino neighborhoods in west and south Modesto. Early this week, a state testing site was moved from Keyes to a center at Marshall Park in west Modesto.
County officials said the Keyes testing site was chosen by the state after an analysis of demographic data for improving testing access for agricultural workers, undocumented people and other residents. At first, people took advantage of the testing opportunity in Keyes but then the numbers dwindled, a top official said.
Michael Garcia, a former commander for the American GI Forum, told supervisors Latinos at lower income levels often live in smaller homes with family members from multiple generations.
Garcia said some Spanish-speaking residents may have distrust for the county’s contact tracing process, which attempts to identify those who have been in contact with an infected person. Garcia called for culturally competent health education for the community.
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
