Last California county without COVID-19 just reported positive cases. Bars may be a source
Modoc County has ended its run as the last county in California without a confirmed case of COVID-19.
On Tuesday, the county’s health department announced two positive cases and urged people who had visited bars in the county over the past 14 days to call health authorities.
“How lucky we have been to not see COVID-19 in our county until now, but it’s here and we could see the number of cases increase in the next few weeks,” Stacy Sphar, the county’s director of health services, said in a news release announcing the positive tests.
The release didn’t say why bars were singled out or which of the handful of bars in the remote, sparsely populated county in California’s far northeastern corner may be a potential source of the infection. Home to around 9,500 people, Modoc County is the third-least populated county in the state.
The release said the two cases are people living in the same household, and they were not hospitalized. The county’s hospital and its affiliated nursing home are tightening visitation restrictions, the county said.
On July 13, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all restaurants and bars across the state to close again after coronavirus cases began to surge. Newsom may withhold federal funds from counties if they refuse to comply with his public health orders, under a proposed budget deal making its way through the state legislature.
Modoc County is among the rural, conservative counties in California that have chafed at Newsom’s business restrictions. In May, Modoc County officials touched off the mini-rebellion by saying businesses, schools and churches could reopen despite the restrictions.
The county’s COVID-19 cases come as hundreds of firefighters, including some from other parts of the country, are currently fighting a massive complex of wildfires burning in and around Lava Beds National Monument. The fire has been threatening Tulelake, a small Siskiyou County city on Modoc County’s northwestern border.