In the past week, multiple counties across the state, from San Diego all the way to Siskiyou, digressed in combating the COVID-19 virus. Within the Bay Area, Sonoma County continues to lag behind, remaining in the ‘purple tier.’
Since August, when the colored tier system was implemented, Sonoma County has been stuck in the ‘purple tier,’ which is the most restrictive. As a whole, Sonoma County is the most “restricted” county in all of California, with 11.1 people infected in every 100,000 cases.
“Just as every vote should be counted, every test should be counted and we want to get credit for all the testing that we’re doing,” said Dr. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County’s health officer, on the topic of non-electronic lab results in a Press Democrat interview. Mase is requesting the state to incorporate non-electronic test results. These non-electronic results are often not part of the state database, thus they delay Sonoma County progressing in tiers.
According to Mase, in the Press Democrat article, the state evaluates counties every Tuesday for pandemic control. Mase argued the non-electronic votes will lower the county’s transmission rates in all the state’s metrics. With the new results, Sonoma County will upgrade to the “red tier,” which requires less than seven infections per 100,000.
“[The county] would have succeeded earlier. [It is] now on the cusp of purple and red, especially with [the] enhanced testing…” said Mase. Robert Eyler, professor of economics at SSU, performed a study in August that estimated Sonoma County could lose up to $6.157 billion in Gross Regional Product (GRP) and up to 20,000 jobs over the next three years. It is especially difficult for Sonoma County to recover with its high housing costs and its economic reliance on tourism and restaurant revenue.
Outside the GRP and non-electronic testing, county officials worry about the upcoming holiday season. With Thanksgiving next week, and Christmas and New Year’s a month later, there is controversy over how to conduct festivities. While many want to travel, county and Bay Area officials are urging residents to limit travel by holding virtual meetings or hosting a max of 12 people if in contact. If one does travel, officials ask travelers to quarantine for two weeks as soon as they return.
However, recent actions by Gov. Gavin Newsom sparked controversy among citizens over the implication of coronavirus policies. Newsom recently attended a friend’s birthday dinner at the famous French Laundry in Yountville. “I should have modeled better behavior and not joined the dinner,” said Newsom. Even though Napa County is not as restricted as Sonoma, people are criticizing the governor’s leadership and standards.
New results will be released today to determine the county’s health. As of Nov. 13, the state itself has over one million confirmed cases, and Sonoma County itself has 10, 679 confirmed cases, according to the Los Angeles Times. The largest outbreaks stem from Santa Rosa and Petaluma, with 4,853 and 1,401 cases, respectively. Rohnert Park is third with 764 cases. Mase hopes that Sonoma County will finally emerge out of the ‘purple tier’ and catch up to the other Bay Area counties.
