Merced County to demobilize coronavirus response center. New cases continue to rise
Merced County Department of Public Health officials at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting said their operation center dedicated to coronavirus will be demobilizing.
A department spokesperson told the Sun-Star that since the start of the pandemic, many of the department’s internal staff had to shift their responsibilities to deal with the COVID-19 threat.
The department was mobilized on COVID-19 efforts to the extent that its other roles were either put on hold or largely reduced in capacity, the spokesperson explained.
The intent is to get back to addressing some of those regular responsibilities the department was diverted from.
Secondly, the department hopes to handle those responsibilities before a possible second wave of coronavirus hits, the spokesperson said.
Most external volunteers will be stepping back Monday, and the rest by June 30, according to County Public Health Officer Dr. Salvador Sandoval.
Officials said they want the chance to catch up if and when another coronavirus wave comes to fruition.
County Public Health will still continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation, but the county’s response will be turned down a few notches.
That will mean less intensive case management, less frequent media releases and data reports. Plus, it will mean a decrease in weekend contact tracing and a possible increase in amount of time it takes to complete contact tracing.
County Public Health coronavirus testing will be utilized for outbreaks, or as a last resort.
Also, the state contract with OptumServe that allows more than 100 daily tests is set to expire at the end of June.
“We’re going to have to continue dealing with it (the pandemic), but we have to approach it in a different way than what we’ve had,” Sandoval said.
New cases still rising
Meanwhile, Merced County reported 15 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, an increase from five the day before, according to the Merced County Department of Public Health.
The county’s tally stands at 387 total cases reported since March 22. Of those, 111 are active — a sharp increase from the 69 active cases a week ago. Total hospitalizations also rose to 44 individuals.
Wednesday’s 15 new cases comes after the county’s biggest leap yet in daily cases was reported Monday, with 23 residents testing positive.
Still, Merced County is on track to reopen more sectors of its economy Friday, a County Public Health spokesperson confirmed to the Sun-Star.
Merced County will release an updated stay-at-home order Friday to provide direction and clarification of which businesses are approved to reopen with modifications.
Wineries, bars, fitness centers, zoos, museums and day camps are among the destinations set to open locally.
Those still excluded from opening include nightclubs, libraries, movie theaters, nail salons and tattoo parlors.
Coronavirus demographics, disparities
Updated data from County Public Health at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting showed some troubling statistics about coronavirus locally.
Notably, Hispanic individuals appears to account for 74% of the county’s coronavirus cases. According to U.S. Census Bureau information, Hispanic or Latino residents make up about 60% of Merced County’s population.
County Supervising Epidemiologist Dr. Kristynn Sullivan noted that information about race was only available for 269 of the county’s COVID-19 cases. The data was analyzed June 8, when Merced County’s case tally came to 367.
“COVID is overburdening our Hispanic/Latino population,” Sullivan said at the meeting. “Conversely, only 7% of our cases are Caucasian or white, so they’re underrepresented in the COVID breakdown and burden of COVID,” she added.
White residents account for just short of 30% of the county’s population, according to the Census Bureau.
About 2% of Merced County’s population has been tested for coronavirus so far, Sandoval reported. However, that data may include some individuals who were tested more than once, he said.
County Public Health officials also addressed the rising number of cases in the City of Merced — the community hit hardest by the pandemic locally.
“Currently, we’ve seen cases increasing particularly in south Merced,” she said. “So in the 95341 zip code, that’s an area of concern that we have right now.”
The Atwater and Winton area, as well as Los Banos and the county’s west side, are seeing more new coronavirus cases lately, Sullivan said.
Other updates included that 74 residents who tested positive for the disease were asymptomatic. County Public Health officials stressed that highlights the importance of taking precautions aimed at curbing the pandemic’s spread seriously — even when not feeling sick.
“We’ve unfortunately had very mixed messaging . . . not just in the county I think, but in general,” Sandoval said. “People get confused when they hear different leaders speaking to use of (social) distancing and masking, for example, and we’re trying to approach it based on science.”
“We don’t have any further protection until we get to the stage of a vaccine,” he added.
