Coronavirus updates: Some Election Day clerks staying home, Sacramento County says
With several new confirmed or presumptive-positive cases of the coronavirus emerging in California on Monday, concerns continue to grow as the state now has multiple patients for whom the exact origin of the virus is unknown.
Placer County on Monday disclosed its first known case, in an employee working at a hospital in Vacaville.
In the Bay Area, Santa Clara County public health officials confirmed three new cases Sunday and two Monday, bringing the county’s total to nine. And San Mateo County on Monday disclosed a presumptive positive in a patient with no known international travel or known exposure to a confirmed coronavirus patient.
As of early Tuesday, California had at least 18 confirmed or presumptive positive cases of the coronavirus, not counting those repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship or from Wuhan, China. Confirmed cases refer to those tested positive by a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab, while presumptive cases include those tested by the California Department of Public Health that are pending confirmation from the CDC.
Coronavirus impacting Election Day in Sacramento
Tuesday’s election presents potential challenges to the public and election workers wary of large crowds.
About 10 to 15 temporary election clerks in Sacramento County have chosen to “opt out” of their Election Day assignments “for fear of being in public spaces” due to the coronavirus, county elections and voter registration spokeswoman Janna Haynes confirmed in an email Tuesday morning.
“We hire nearly 700 election clerks for the (84 vote centers) so we do not anticipate an impact to the voting experience,” Haynes wrote.
The county has had vote-by-mail and drop-off options available at many of those voting centers since Feb. 22, and ballots started to hit registered voters’ mailboxes in early February. Still, the county is taking measures to keep hands and surfaces clean at those voting centers for those submitting their votes in person on Super Tuesday, Haynes said.
“We’ve sent out some sanitation supplies to our vote centers including hand sanitizer, antiseptic wipes for the voting booths, tissues and gloves that people using the touchscreens can use.”
The county’s vote centers opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m.
What is the coronavirus situation in California?
Northern California became the U.S. epicenter for coronavirus activity and attention by the middle of last week, when an internal memo from leaders at UC Davis Medical Center to staff revealed Wednesday the nation’s first known case of community-spread coronavirus, from a patient residing in Solano County, had been transferred to the research hospital Feb. 19 from NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville.
A COVID-19 lab test by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came back positive Feb. 23, four days after admission to UC Davis Medical Center.
Between the two hospitals, more than 200 health care workers, including dozens of nurses, were exposed to that patient and subsequently went into quarantine.
So far, three workers at the Vacaville hospital — one resident from each of Solano, Alameda and Placer counties — tested positive for COVID-19. Sacramento County Health chief Peter Beilenson said Monday that the first round of test results from UC Davis Medical Center employees had returned with no positives for coronavirus, though not all of the 124 workers believed to have been exposed have been tested.
The total number of infections in the U.S. has surpassed 100, according to a map maintained by Johns Hopkins University, with the CDC website reporting that 45 of those patients were repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship and another three were repatriated from Wuhan, the epicenter for the virus.
In addition to Santa Clara, Alameda, Placer, San Mateo and Solano counties, cases of the coronavirus have been identified in residents of Sacramento, Sonoma, Humboldt, San Benito, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, according to public health officials in those counties.
What other coronavirus developments happened Monday?
▪ Officials in Washington state confirmed four additional deaths from the illness — three in King County and one in Snohomish County — bringing the total to six dead. There have been no reports of coronavirus deaths in any other state as of Tuesday morning.
▪ Placer County public health officials shared some more details on the first confirmed case of the coronavirus there, in an employee at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital.
Dr. Aimee Sisson, the county’s health officer, said the employee is in home isolation with “mild symptoms” after coming in contact with the Solano County patient, before that patient was transferred and tested for the coronavirus.
Health officials were first alerted to the potential case on Feb. 27, and test results out of Sacramento County confirmed the case Sunday.
▪ The NBA issued a memo advising players to offer “fist bumps” instead of high-fives, and to avoid autographing items from fans, according to a memo obtained Monday by The Sacramento Bee.
“The health and safety of NBA players, coaches, staff and fans is paramount,” NBA Director of Sports Medicine John DiFiori and NBA Players Association Chief Medical Officer Joe Rogowski stated in the memo, which was first reported by ESPN. “The NBA and Players Association are closely monitoring this situation.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 8:35 AM.
