Placer County says ‘stay home’ as Roseville declares emergency due to coronavirus
Placer County is now urging residents “stay home as much as possible” to slow the spread of novel coronavirus cases.
On Tuesday, the county released updated guidance, asking all residents “eliminate non-essential trips.” The new guidance is in line with similar directives released by Sacramento County and several other Bay Area counties this week urging people to avoid leaving their house unless they have essential chores to do.
“During a pandemic, disease spread can rapidly accelerate in the absence of intervention,” Placer County’s public health officer Aimee Sisson said in a recorded video this week.
Placer County has confirmed a total of nine cases of the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as of a Wednesday morning update. That is an increase of one case from Monday’s official count.
“We are taking action now to hopefully slow the surge in COVID-19 case numbers so that our hospital systems, healthcare workers and first responders do not become overwhelmed all at once,” Sisson said.
That means eating at home instead of dining out in a crowd, and FaceTiming or Skyping friends instead of hanging out in groups, Sisson said.
While employers aren’t required to keep workers away from the office, businesses should implement telecommuting if possible, and minimize the number of employees working within six feet of one another.
Roseville declares emergency
The City of Roseville proclaimed a local state of emergency during a special city council meeting Tuesday, a decision made to allow the city to provide or receive aid from neighboring jurisdictions amid the coronavirus crisis.
As part of the order, all city buildings are closed to the public starting Wednesday and lasting through April 13, the city said in a news release.
Remaining open are the city’s parks, trails and golf courses, and the city’s public transit system is still operating.
“Our City teams are working around the clock to respond to new circumstances, get information to the public, and protect the health and safety of our community,” Mayor John Allard said in a prepared statement. “The proclamation is an important administrative step in our city’s mission to reduce the risk of exposure.”
Placer has not broken down the cases geographically and the city has not disclosed a total, so it is not known how many, if any, cases have been reported in Roseville. However, the county’s lone death involved a patient who died while in isolation at the Kaiser Roseville hospital.
The fatality was a 71-year-old Rocklin man who died in early March. That death represented the first due to the coronavirus in California.
“We’re asking you to make short-term sacrifices now to protect those on the front lines of this pandemic,” Sisson said.
“Don’t panic, but don’t be complacent,” she said.
