‘I get the fear, but ...’: How some in Elk Grove remain calm amid coronavirus concerns
Concerns about a potential outbreak of the novel coronavirus are mounting in the suburban city of Elk Grove, but many residents are working to maintain a sense of normalcy.
Over the weekend and early this week, Elk Grove has emerged as a test case for how public officials can tamp down fears and manage a growing crisis as the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, spreads across the county and globe. In California, there are now at least 157 positive cases of the novel coronavirus, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday.
Elk Grove Unified School District, the largest in Northern California, announced Saturday it would cancel a week of school after a family whose child attends one of its schools was placed under quarantine. On Monday, local officials confirmed an elementary school student in the district tested positive for the virus.
And on Tuesday, a resident at an Elk Grove senior living facility tested positive for the virus, with health officials beginning to shift priorities towards reducing the risk of infection for people who are most likely to be seriously affected by the potentially deadly virus. An elderly resident in their 90s died from complications stemming from the virus, Sacramento County officials announced later that evening.
But for the rest of the sprawling suburb of Elk Grove, the impacts of COVID-19 are more innocuous and everyday — a scrapped junior prom, Interstate 5 emptier than usual, shortages of disinfectant wipes.
School activities canceled, then resume
Two games for Cosumnes Oaks High School’s baseball team were canceled this week, as well as regular practice. Still, it didn’t stop the Wolfpack from getting a practice in on Monday morning and playing a game of wiffle ball at Hal Bartholomew Sports Park near Franklin High School.
“We usually practice at the (high school) field but we’re not allowed to so we got to do whatever we can,” said Steven Brooks, a junior at Cosumnes Oaks.
Whether their first league game next week will be canceled is “up in the air,” he said. The district announced Tuesday it would allow academic and athletic events to go on as scheduled through Wednesday, meaning the baseball team only missed the game scheduled for Monday.
The initial lockdown on school activities had also meant the early end of the season for the Sheldon High School boys basketball team, drawing sharp criticism from angry parents over the weekend. However, the top-ranked team in Northern California was cleared to play in an Open Division semifinal game at Dublin on Tuesday. The Huskies won 59-58 to advance to Thursday’s CIF State Northern California Regional final against Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland.
Despite the whiplash of news surrounding the coronavirus these last few weeks, students in the district haven’t been particularly concerned about infection, Brooks said.
“We probably should be more worried about it, but it hasn’t really affected anybody we know,” he said.
It’s a feeling shared by Carissa Garcia, an Elk Grove resident whose daughter, Sophia, is a second-grader at Franklin Elementary School.
“I feel like it’s another strain of flu, people will get over it,” she said, as she waited outside Franklin Public Library for her daughter to drop off a couple of Pokemon graphic novels.
“I’m still going out, I’m still doing things. I’m not going to quarantine myself,” the stay-at-home mom said. “I’m going to take my kids to the zoo tomorrow. We’re going to do stuff this week, we’re not going to stay home.”
District’s decision makes some change plans
The sudden closure of the district forced some parents to quickly shuffle their weekly routine.
Elk Grove resident Naomi Pumisacho had to take three days off work because of the school closures. She said she’s concerned that the district hasn’t specified which school the student under quarantine attends, but is taking the early spring break in stride.
“My husband was a little worried, he sanitized the house,” Pumisacho said, laughing. “Shampooed the carpets, washed everything down.”
Pumisacho and her daughter, Nalia, a Cosumnes Oaks student, planned to head to Arden Fair later in the afternoon to do some clothes shopping.
Keri Coco, who took her third-grade daughter grocery shopping with her, is glad the district took steps to keep other families safe.
“I’d rather them over-prepare than under-prepare,” she said.
Nearby, at the Century Laguna 16 movie theater, Amber Hespeler took her Ellen Feickert Elementary School third-grade son, Noah, to see a morning screening of “Sonic the Hedgehog.”
“Yes, there was a concern about the crowd, but there were little to no people” in the theater, she said. “I think there were like six of us.”
Hespeler, a fifth-grade teacher at Anna Kirchgater Elementary School, said the closure seemed “a little excessive,” and that barring her and her colleagues from work is cumbersome.
“We’re going to have to meet for coffee and discuss all the things we need to do,” she said. “We have deadlines” and field trips to plan.
At Kunsting Family Park, Julie Myers, an Elk Grove resident who runs a daycare out of her house, watched as her Franklin Elementary School fourth-grade daughter, Kayla, played on the swing set. She decided to do a “total last-minute thing.”
“I feel like every couple years there’s something like this,” Myers said. “I get the fear, but I try to live my life where I’ll worry when I have something to worry about.”