Lake County health officials report first COVID-19 death as local cases continue to mount

Lake County, long one of the few Northern California counties spared from death amid the coronavirus pandemic, reported its first COVID-19 fatality on Friday.

Although Lake County health officials do not provide specific location information for COVID-19 patients, recent testing has shown that an outbreak among farmworkers accounts for a significant portion of the recent surge there.

Last week, Lake County was reporting a total of 42 cases. As of Friday, there were more than double with 87 cases. There are still 33 active cases in Lake County, which is almost 40 percent of all reported infections, and three people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

Health officials in the county estimated that about half of the new cases stemmed from farmworkers, although the other new infections were harder to pin down.

“This pattern of spread indicates that there is at least some community transmission” the county’s health department said in a statement.

Health officials set up a testing site immediately after learning of the outbreak in the farm working community, and tested more than 300 people. So far, the county has tested a total of 4,317 people since the onset of the pandemic.

“In trying to understand the primary causes of the spread, large groups of people mixing from different households has been a common theme,” health officials said of the recent surge. “Busy bars where young people are congregating without masking, some large churches, possibly the protests, and family gatherings where people from different areas come together are suspected to be a big part of the engine driving the spread.”

Although Lake County was not included on California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s monitoring list for counties with troubling increases in infection rates, local leaders are still concerned.

“Lake County is not on the list, but with the recent rise in cases we may end up there in the next few weeks,” the county health department said.

This story was originally published July 4, 2020 at 3:04 PM.