On December 7, 2020, Sierra County Public Health received notification of a twenty-fifth positive COVID-19 test result for a resident of Sierra County. Sierra County remains in the Moderate (Orange) tier as of the time of this release.
However, on December 3, 2020 Governor Newsom announced a change in the qualifications and geographic boundaries which implement the restrictions specified in the new Regional Stay Home Order. The implementation of the Regional Stay Home Order will be based on a region’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity changing the qualifications for restrictions to be implemented from a County’s number of positive cases. Regions with less than 15% ICU availability will be entered into the Stay Home Order. ICU capacity for each region will be assessed daily. If a region has less than 15% ICU availability, residents of that region will be instructed to stay home as much as possible to limit mixing with other households that can lead to COVID- 19 spread. Sierra County is a part of the Greater Sacramento Region, which also includes the counties of Alpine, Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba. The Regional Stay Home Order is dependent on ICU capacity, so there is no timeline for when this Order will go into effect.
The Regional Stay Home Order will go into effect at 11:59PM the day after a region has been announced to have less than 15% ICU availability. The supplemental order clarifies retail operations and goes into effect immediately. They prohibit private gatherings of any size and close sector operations except for critical infrastructure and retail.
Once implemented, these orders will remain in effect for at least 3 weeks. After that period, they will be lifted when a region’s projected ICU capacity meets or exceeds 15%. This will be assessed on a weekly basis after the initial 3 week period.
At the time of this release, the Greater Sacramento Region’s ICU capacity is 20.3%. For more information about ICU capacity in our Greater Sacramento Region, please visit: About COVID-19 restrictions - Coronavirus COVID-19 Response (ca.gov)
Everyone can help Sierra County and our Region stay open. The recommendations remain the same;
- Avoid gatherings with those outside your household.
- Wear a mask.
- Keep your distance.
- Wash your hands.
- If you think or know that you have been exposed, stay home. Thanks for doing your part.
Celia Sutton-Pado, MD Public Health Officer Sierra County
For more information, please go to: http://sierracounty.ca.gov/COVID-19 Email: [email protected]
