El Dorado County: Visitors must stay away from Lake Tahoe during coronavirus outbreak
El Dorado County’s chief health official on Friday issued a no-travel order for the Lake Tahoe Basin, telling visitors to stay away from the popular vacation spot.
Officials say the area continues to attract too many people, despite a statewide stay-at-home order to slow the spread of coronavirus.
The no-travel order, which remains in effect through April 30, was issued in response to a “swell of non-fulltime residents” traveling to Lake Tahoe, according to a county news release. The order itself refers to people traveling there to stay in their “second homes,” which is not considered essential travel.
“Visitors whom we enthusiastically welcome during normal times are further impacting an already decreased availability of essential supplies and food, and putting the entire Lake Tahoe population at greater risk of being able to receive proper health care,” County Public Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams said in a news release.
There is an insufficient amount of hospital beds, ventilators and health care workers in the area to treat a mass number of patients if the coronavius continues to spread at its current rate, according to the order.
As of Friday afternoon, El Dorado County had 22 COVID-19 confirmed cases, and no fatalities. Nearly half of them have been reported in the South Lake Tahoe area, according to the county’s COVID-19 data.
On March 19, shortly before Gov. Gavin Newsom told all Californians to stay home, Williams issued a directive telling El Dorado County residents to remain at home for about month to slow the spread of coronavirus, which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19. That county directive has been extended through April 30.
Authorities say keeping people home as much as possible will help limit the number of infections and protect those most vulnerable to serious illness COVID-19.
On March 24, Williams issued another directive clarifying people should stay home instead of staying in “hotels, motels, condominiums, campgrounds, other units,” for less than 30 days for “recreation, tourism or as a location other than one’s residence to ‘shelter in place’ is not considered an essential activity.”
“It’s time to take this very strong message to those who are not already residing in South Lake Tahoe,” Williams said in the news release. “If you have no essential function and you are here, please go home. If you have no essential function and you are not here, please stay home.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 8:51 PM.
