El Dorado County lifts Tahoe travel ban, still discourages visits due to coronavirus
El Dorado County has rescinded its ban on nonessential travel into the Lake Tahoe basin, but is still discouraging visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic and statewide shutdown.
The county in a news release late Thursday said the travel order is being rescinded to reflect El Dorado County’s “sufficient testing and contact tracing capacity” for COVID-19, the disease caused by the highly contagious coronavirus. The local order had been in place since April 3 and was extended indefinitely in late April while the county allowed its separate, local stay-at-home order to expire.
Because Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide stay-at-home order remains in effect, nonessential trips are still considered off-limits.
“Because the State ban on nonessential travel supersedes the County’s, there is no material change in what people should do in regards to visiting Lake Tahoe,” Dr. Nancy Williams, El Dorado County’s public health officer, said in a prepared statement. “I cannot emphasis this enough: people should not come to Lake Tahoe unless they have an essential purpose for doing so.”
The main consequence of rescinding the local order is that a $1,000 administrative fine that travelers faced for violating the order has been eliminated.
The city of South Lake Tahoe last week announced property owners such as those owning a vacation home in the city could return, but that visitors are still asked not to come to Tahoe.
El Dorado County’s infection rate remains low, with only 81 positive cases confirmed among a population of roughly 190,000. No deaths have been reported due to COVID-19, and no coronavirus patients were hospitalized in El Dorado County as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the county public health department’s online dashboard.
This story was originally published May 28, 2020 at 6:40 AM with the headline "El Dorado County lifts Tahoe travel ban, still discourages visits due to coronavirus."
