Health chief predicts Sacramento County can ‘manage’ COVID-19 by Halloween. Here’s how
Sacramento health officials are asking residents to double down in October on coronavirus safety measures, saying they hope to have the disease “managed” by Halloween – which would mean spread is minimal enough that county COVID-19 trackers can quickly alert most people who’ve been in contact with an infected person.
“That way we can much better control the outbreak” during this fall as the economy reopens and some workplaces partially repopulate, county health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson said.
A campaign launched today, called Turn Sacramento County Orange by Halloween, refers to the state’s system of categorizing counties into one of four tiers based on infection spread: purple, red, orange and yellow. Sacramento this week moved from purple, the most restrictive tier, to red.
Under orange tier status, restaurants can expand indoor dining to 50% of capacity. Bars that do not serve food will be allowed to reopen for outdoor drinking only. More businesses may feel comfortable as well bringing some non-essential workers back.
As of this week, restaurants in Sacramento County are allowed to open for 25% interior dining. Schools will be allowed to reopen doors for in-class instruction on Oct. 13. Movie theaters, bowling alleys, gyms and houses for worship can reopen their doors for limited numbers, typically 10% to 25% of capacity.
That makes small safety steps, like mask-wearing, hygiene and social distancing, more critical, Beilenson said. “I think it is putting it in people’s hands more than we did before.”
Beilenson called on diners to stick to outdoor dining if they are meeting up with people who are not living in their same household. They should wear their masks at the table when not eating. Sharing a table indoors at a restaurant should be reserved for people who live under the same roof, he said.
By focusing on a one-month effort between now and Halloween, county health officials say they hope to get over what they consider a key hump that will allow county contact tracers to catch up to the disease spread and tamp down on new case clusters before they burgeon.
The county has been averaging 115 new cases a day in the last week. It peaked this summer at 250 a day typically. Beilenson said getting below 50 a day would represent a turning-point threshold.
The county’s team of 90 “contact tracers,” most of whom were hired in the last few months, have been deluged with cases over the summer, and were unable to contact and quarantine many of the people who tested positive or who were in extended contact with someone who tested positive.
That overload was exacerbated this summer when labs processing COVID-19 tests fell behind and did not deliver results to people for more than 10 days. That allowed the disease to spread before people found out they had it.
If the county hits 50 or fewer cases per day, contact tracers can catch up, Beilenson said.
The county has seen a notable drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations since the end of July. State data dashboards also show Sacramento County is now averaging three deaths a week from COVID, fewer than this summer. At the peak in mid-August, the county registered 11 deaths in one day. The county registered six deaths, though, on Thursday.
Sacramento County has a website, www.TurnSacramentoOrange.com for information on how businesses, hospitals, schools, restaurants, gyms, hair and nail salons, grocery stores and more can help push us into the next tier.
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 11:02 AM.