Sacramento County orders public boards to suspend in-person meetings due to omicron
Sacramento County health officials have ordered that all public board meetings, council meetings and commission meetings be conducted virtually rather than in-person in response to extremely high transmission rates of the omicron variant of COVID-19.
“Due to the continued day-over-day case rate increases of COVID-19 from the highly infectious Omicron variant, the Sacramento County Public Health Officer has issued a health order requiring all public boards, councils, commissions, and other similar bodies suspend in-person public meetings and conduct all meetings virtually,” the county announced in a news release Thursday morning.
The order will apply to all city councils and school district boards located within Sacramento County, along with the county Board of Supervisors, as well as all commissions within those bodies.
It also requires that affected bodies “ensure opportunities for virtual public participation and compliance with the Brown Act and all other relevant statutes.”
County health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye in a prepared statement called the order “necessary to protect essential government functions.”
“This is a measured step that we can take that would allow us to continue providing access to public services,” Kasirye said on a call with reporters Thursday morning.
Kasirye expressed concern about the omicron wave, saying case numbers “have gone up a lot faster than they have in past surges,” but said the local health office does not currently plan any additional measures such as closing businesses, requiring vaccine verification or closing schools.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Thursday’s health order applies to the state Legislature in Sacramento. When asked, Kasirye said that is for the Legislature and its legal team to decide.
The health order only applies to public entities, stating that private employers and businesses should “consider conducting meetings remotely” but not requiring them to do so.
The order took effect starting 8 a.m. Thursday, and it will be re-evaluated no later than Feb. 1.
Sacramento County’s local order requiring masks in indoor public settings, which went into effect July 29, remains in place and unchanged, the county said in a news release. Indoor masking is also required statewide under a California health order that will last through at least Feb. 15.
Health officials noted that the county’s coronavirus case rate as of Tuesday reached an all-time high of 80.3 per 100,000 residents. The local health department in a Wednesday update reported the rate at 83.7 per 100,000, which is more than 30% higher than the peak of the winter 2020 surge.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 8:06 AM.
