A regional Stay-at-Home Order is possible if current trends continue and the Greater Sacramento regions ICU capacity falls below 15%

Nevada County Public Health’s mission is to support community health and protect the community against disasters. Nevada County’s COVID-19 cases continue to rise rapidly.

“Currently, our ‘active’ cases on our dashboard represent over 30% of our total COVID cases and we continue to experience high rates of community transmission,” said Nevada County Public Health Director Jill Blake.  “Social gatherings are still a significant driver for new COVID cases in Nevada County,” Blake said. “We continue to see the most cases in sectors like healthcare, including skilled nursing facilities; food service; schools and daycare; and offices. Cases are spiking around the state and Nevada County is no exception. Although it is hard to change our holiday plans, we can begin to lower the increasing impact to our hospitals, businesses and our community by sticking with our household, maintaining at least a 6 foot distance from others, and wearing a mask when at work or out in our communities.”

Current COVID Guidelines

The State continues to implement a county-by-county tier system for areas who are not under a Regional Stay at Home Order triggered when ICU capacity is under 15 percent. Nevada County remains in the State’s Purple “Widespread” Tier today.  It is projected that Nevada County and the Greater Sacramento region’s ICU capacity could drop below 15% this week and was updated to 18.8% today. Once announced, counties in that region would move into a regional Stay at Home Order by 11:59pm the next day and would remain in effect for a minimum of 3 weeks. Learn more about the possible regional Stay at Home Order at COVID19.ca.gov. 

COVID Testing

After testing positive for COVID, you should not be tested again for at least 90 days and should not expect to have a negative test in order to return to work.  According to the CDC, people can continue to test positive for COVID for up to three months after diagnosis as they may be shedding dead virus, although they would not be infectious to others. If you have tested positive for COVID-19, please follow the Isolation Guidance and share the Quarantine Guidance with your close contacts. If an employee has exposures in the workplace, employers can follow the Workplace Exposure Guidance.

State and Local Emergency Notifications

To help keep the community informed, protect our essential workers, and to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed, Nevada County plans to send out a CodeRED Emergency Alert to residents and visitors if Nevada County does move into a Stay-at-Home Order due to regional hospital capacity. Learn more and subscribe to CodeRED Emergency Alerts at www.readynevadacounty.org/codered or call 1-833-DIAL211 for assistance

The State is planning to send out a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) to counties who are in the Southern California and San Joaquin Valley regions and are currently under the regional Stay at Home Order. Subsequent WEA messages could be sent to other regions of the state, like Nevada County, if they move into stay-at-home status. Any messages are informational only, and individuals who receive wireless alerts should not contact law enforcement or call 9-1-1.

More Information

For more information visit www.mynevadacounty.com/coronavirus or speak with a local call center representative at 211 Connecting Point by calling  1-833-DIAL211.