Merced County reports fourth COVID-19-related death. Plan for reopening submitted to state
After over four weeks without a COVID-19 related death, Merced County’s streak ended Tuesday as a fourth fatality was confirmed by County Public Health.
“We are saddened by the confirmation of another death in our community due to COVID-19, and the Department sends its deepest condolences to the family,” said County Public Health Officer Dr. Salvador Sandoval in a news release.
“We want to remind the residents of Merced County that we must remain united in preventing the spread of this disease. Please do your part to halt the spread.”
The deceased individual was a man over the age of 65 with underlying health conditions, the release said. He contracted COVID-19 via a family member, Public Health officials told the Sun-Star.
Sandoval said the new death won’t affect plans to reopen faster. One state requirement for counties to advance reopening is having no COVID-19 related deaths within last 14 days when the plan is submitted. Merced County submitted it Monday.
What reopening looks like
Merced County got a closer look Tuesday at the road map for reopening amid coronavirus — if it’s approved to move forward through Stage 2 of the governor’s stay-at-home order at a faster rate than most of the state.
Gov. Gavin Newsom last week shifted California from Stage 1 to a partial Stage 2, but gave the green light to county’s less affected by the pandemic to make the case for a quicker transition locally.
The county submitted its readiness plan to the state Monday, but it isn’t considered valid until posted on the California Department of Public Health’s Website.
The Merced County Department of Public Health provided a COVID-19 update at the Board of Supervisors Meeting on Tuesday, laying out which businesses could reopen in what order — if and when the plan is approved by the state.
If the plan meets the standards set out by the state:
On Day 1: Effectively immediately, some retail shops could reopen for in-person sales and restaurants for dine-in eating. Bars are excluded. Outdoor museums and open gallery spaces can operate.
Day 5-7: Childcare facilities could resume about a week into the plan having been approved.
Day 10-14: Less than two weeks post approval, offices could reopen, but telework is encouraged if possible. Other retail spaces like shopping malls and swap meets may continue business.
County Public Health officials said the state drew a hard line at excluding Stage 3 businesses from regional reopening. Hair and nail salons, movie theaters and churches are among those not permitted to reopen, even if the county is approved to advance.
Newsom said in his briefing Tuesday that he’d been in contact with 27 interested counties. El Dorado and Butte counties have already been approved, and more are expected to join by the day’s end, he said.
While Newsom said he anticipates not all counties hopeful of reopening faster will be permitted to do so, state officials recently said in a call with Merced County officials that it meets eligibility requirements. But that was contingent upon local coronavirus cases and deaths remaining stable, officials stressed.
Could businesses close again?
If Merced County is approved to advance, increased reopening may not last if COVID-19 cases or deaths spike.
“The idea is that if something opens, it wouldn’t necessarily stay open if we were to see significant changes in what the disease looks like in Merced County specifically,” said County Supervising Epidemiologist Dr. Kristynn Sullivan.
Benchmarks that could trigger a second wave of closures include:
1. Average COVID-19 cases over a span of five days consistently triple the current rate of three to six daily cases.
2. The case doubling rate is cut in half from about 30 days to less than two weeks.
3. The positive case testing rate rises over 10%. As of now, about 6.2% of test results are positive.
4. The hospitalization rate advances past 20% from the current rate of 12.7%.
Impact on local businesses
The county and its six cities last week launched reopenmercedcounty.com to prepare closed businesses for reopening. The site includes a survey for the business community.
County officials reported Tuesday that 90 businesses had responded to the survey. Entries showed a 37% furlough or lay-off rate for employees and $1 million in unexpected expenses to business owners.
Over 40% of businesses surveyed said they’d lost 75% or more of revenue.
The county is considering a first-come-first-serve relief grant for local businesses, but is only conceptual so far, officials said.
Merced County small business owners and officials have repeatedly expressed frustration with the state’s slow reopening, with some advocating to defy the governor’s orders. County Supervisors Tuesday voiced apprehension over when the county’s plan to advance may be approved.
“They’re playing games, that’s my opinion” Supervisor Scott Silveira said of the state, noting he would give state officials no more than two days to post the county’s plan to the CDPH website. “We’ve jumped through the hoops, now we’ve gotta do what we’ve gotta do,” he added.
“If Merced County’s eligible, to me that’s a green light,” Supervisor Daron McDaniel concurred, reiterating his support for declaring a local emergency over the state of the economy.
County Public Health Director Dr. Rebecca Nanyonjo-Kemp said she shares these frustrations, but urged compliance with state guidance.
“Our role is to as much as possible safeguard and secure our ongoing funding opportunities, our ongoing relationships,” she said.
Coronavirus in Merced County
Overall county cases rose to 177 Tuesday, according to County Public Health. Active cases tally 66, while 106 individuals have recovered. Eleven Merced County residents are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, county officials reported.
COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death in California behind heart disease and cancer, Sandoval reported Tuesday. In the Valley though, the disease ranks at number seven.
“Part of this reflects under testing, and part of this also reflects the fact that we’re more rural or semi-rural, which shouldn’t lead us to become complacent,” he said.
Roughly 1% of Merced County’s population has been tested, Sandoval said. Testing has increased with the opening of an OptumServe testing site at the Merced County Fairgrounds, but officials say the site has been wracked with logistical issues and slow test results — despite promising a 48 hour turnaround time.
“We’re disturbed by the fact that OptumServe has 764 pending results still, and some of them up to seven or eight days after the test was done,” Sandoval said. “This is, to our way of looking, unacceptable.”
While county officials work with the state to resolve these kinks, plans are in the works to double the more than 100 daily tests at the site. Another county-state partnership with a different company may soon come to the county’s west side, too.
Sullivan noted how stringent precautions in Los Banos leveled cases out after a sharp spike. Less strict measures on the county’s east side may have led to a recent case increase, as Merced now leads the county with 60 cases.
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 5:53 PM.
