First COVID-19 death reported in Folsom as local cases reach 41

The latest data reported from Sacramento County Health officials report that Folsom now has one reported death attributed to COVID-19. In total Thursday morning, Sacramento County has 1,068 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 42 deaths. The city of Folsom has now 41 confirmed cases including the reported fatality.Due to patient and family privacy, officials are not releasing specific details or specific locations of the recent fatality. When it comes to overall cases in the city, one local senior care facility counts for nearly half of the citywide cases.Oakmont Senior Living in Folsom, reportedly has 23 total cases, 18 of which are residents to the facility and five staffers. Oakmont officials confirmed the outbreak to local media agencies with little details in an effort to protect patient privacy. They have stated they are taking extreme precautions to prevent further spread to their population. Folsom State Prison's work force reports four cases and California State Prison Folsom's workforce reported five confirmed cases with no confirmed cases among local inmate populations. While countywide cases have risen, much of those statistics can be attributed to broadened testing throughout the state. Early in the week, Gov. Gavin Newsom touted California's success in slowing the spread of COVID-19 so far. Newsom credited the slowing of cases will enable the state to begin modifying its stay-at-home orders to begin relaxing in weeks, rather than months ahead. During his latest presentation, Newsom detailed the four phases that the state will now follow as it slowly removes stay-at-home orders, which have been in place statewide since March 19 to slow the spread of Covid-19. While state orders remain in place, some local counties have announced they will extend their orders, while others will not.While he has indicated that the state has done well in "flattening the curve," Newsom continued to stress the importance of residents to follow the state stay at home order. This past weekend, thousands flocked to Southern California Beaches."The virus hasn't gone away," said Newsom. "It doesn't go home because it's a beautiful sunny day around our coasts."After news that several counties in the state are reopening many of their facilities and beaches, Newsom is expected to issue a statewide closure of all beaches and state parks later today.The Gov. reportedly issued notices to all California law agencies regarding his upcoming stiffer closure. Newsom's resistance to further relaxing stay at home orders is gaining criticism from California residents and business owners across the state ready to begin phasing into a somewhat normal lifestyle again and hoping to save their businesses and resume work. The City of Folsom has received many inquiries from residents and businesses regarding the status of the stay at home order, which was extended to May 22 by Sacramento County health officials yesterday.The new order relaxes some of the restrictions related to parks, residential real estate, and health care services."I receive dozens of phone calls and emails daily - some from folks insisting we re-open for business immediately, and others begging the city to enforce social distancing and require individuals to wear face masks when out in public," said Folsom Mayor Sarah Aquino, who reached out to the community on social media Thursday morning. "Please know that we continue to advocate for reasonable precautions to slow the spread of this disease while suggesting common sense restrictions that could allow some folks to safely get back to work."While the new relaxing of the orders may be better for food trucks and shooting ranges, which are among those named as permissible in the update, it does very little to relieve the stress on both essential and non-essential businesses that are shuttered, or hindered by the restrictions."I support allowing "non-essential" retail businesses to open for curbside commerce and in-store shopping with limited occupancy," added Aquino. "Unfortunately, neither the county or state order allows for that at this time, but we will keep pushing."Aquino added that the city is continuing to work with the Greater Folsom Partnership to help businesses prepare for when the orders are eventually lifted. Daily Zoom calls are taking place among business owners and officials to elicit feedback from industry leaders about their specific needs."We are looking at city ordinances that could be temporarily suspended to provide relief for businesses," added Aquino. "We are figuring out ways to add seating so restaurants will be able to serve people while still adhering to social distancing guidelines, and much more." Changes to extended Sac County order The new Sacramento County stay at home order has clarified some essential activities and allowable recreational activities from the previous order. Those defined chanfes read as follows:Essential Activities now allow for visiting a health care professional for medical or dental care for chronic conditions or preventive services.Allowing non-contact recreational facilities and activities that include the use of shared equipment, including shooting and archery ranges, disc golf, tennis courts and boating, provided that activities are in conformance with social distancing requirements and appropriate disinfectant processes.Contact sports or activities, including basketball, football and soccer are prohibited outside of residences.Healthcare providers and hospitals may reschedule appointments for care that was considered non-urgent and canceled when the Public Health Order was first issued. This includes elective procedures, preventive services such as immunizations and other care for chronic conditions. Residential viewings for rentals, leases and home sales are now allowable when the occupant is still residing in the residence. The requirement is still in place that the visit must be by appointment with no more than two visitors at a time residing within the same household or living unit and one individual showing the unit.Food trucks have been added to Essential Businesses."As we've made clear all along since responding to this pandemic, Sacramento County will continue to take a thoughtful, measured approach to the 'stay at home' order and any adjustments we make," said Board Chair and District 1 Supervisor Phil Serna. "I'm extremely proud of the work performed by our dedicated public servants who've been instrumental in saving lives while carefully considering the civil liberties of those we serve." El Dorado County local order expires today As of Thursday, El Dorado County's local stay-at-home order expires and health officials announced on Tuesday that they will not be extending it. The local move now puts the directive solely into the hands of Newsom and the statewide order. El Dorado County Public Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams took note of how cooperative residents have been with the stay-at-home order – with only 43 cases of coronavirus confirmed.With the county seeing such positive results, Williams has decided to let her directive, which augmented the state's order, expire."For these reasons – the steps we took early on in the pandemic, the low number of cases in our county, the preparations of our health care providers for a surge in patients should it occur, and the overall compliance with both the governor's order and my directive – I am letting the county's stay-at-home directive expire on April 30," said Williams. However, the State of California and Gov. Gavin Newsom's social distancing orders will still be in effect."I will remain vigilant and am prepared to reinstate county-level restrictions if necessary to protect our health care systems and our residents," said Williams. ""Going forward, residents will be guided primarily by the governor's order."Williams also noted that the county order restricting non-essential travel to parts of Lake Tahoe remain in effect until further notice, as well as the emergency ordinance allowing officials to fine visitors for short-term rentals."This additional restriction was due to concerns that the healthcare system in the South Lake Tahoe area could become overloaded as has occurred in similar resort communities in the Western U.S. like those resort communities," said Williams. "South Lake Tahoe draws many tourists but has limited medical resources and other essential goods and services." State sets sights on phase 2 During his Tuesday address, Newsom and health officials explained that California is setting sights on moving from its first phase, where only essential businesses are allowed open, toward a second phase that would allow some nonessential businesses to open.Under stage 2, nonessential retail, manufacturing, logistics and office-based businesses could reopen. The state may also loosen its restrictions on some public spaces and parks."We will look at loosening the stay-at-home orders on a sector-by-sector basis and provide guidance for each industry,"Newsom said. During the second stage, the state will also look at potentially bringing students back to school early for instruction that could begin in late July or early August. According to Newsom, this will allow students and faculty to begin catching up on time lost and allow schools to implement a staggered schedule to improve social distancing.Much of the state's reopening will depend on local Covid-19 hospitalizations continuing to stabilize, allowing local healthcare to maintain potential surge capacity, supplies, testing and contact tracing needs. Newsom has faced pressure in recent weeks from rural communities to allow them to reopen their economies. Six rural counties and 14 small cities sent a letter to the governor last week, asking him to allow them to move forward with their own "phased reopening."Under phase 2, individual counties would be allowed to relax some coronavirus restrictions "at their own pace," said Dr. Sonia Angell, the director of the California Department of Public Health who joined Newsom at the podium Tuesday.According to Angell, businesses such as hairdressers, gyms, nail salons, spas and other personal services wouldn't be allowed to open until stage 3. However, some of these types of businesses regionally have begun opening their doors to survive.Concert venues, professional sports, conventions and events with large crowds will fall under the fourth stage of Newsom's plan. At this time, it appears these large scale events may not open to their normal state until a vaccine is developed or population immunity occurs."If we pull back too quickly, it could start a second wave that could be even more damaging than the first," Newsom said. New lawsuit challenges Newsom's order On Monday, two Sacramento County residents reportedly filed a federal lawsuit challenging Newsom's stay-at-home order.The lawsuit reportedly was filed on behalf of Ron Givens of the Sacramento Gun Club and Christine "Chris" Bish, a real estate agent and a Republican candidate for Congress. The filing alleges that the California Highway Patrol unconstitutionally denied their requests for permits to hold a protest outside the state Capitol. "At a time when Californians are rightfully questioning the duration and extent of the stay-at-home orders, which are unevenly enforced and which have resulted in other constitutional challenges, Gov. Newsom has reacted to citizen protests not by addressing widespread concern, but simply by shutting down protest at the Capitol altogether, making no reasonable accommodations for this fundamental function in a free society," said a statement from case attorney Harmeet K. Dhillon. "We believe that the local public health data, in addition to our area's ability to continue monitoring cases, should allow our counties to soon begin a science-based, thoughtful reopening of our economy, consistent with national guidelines, which would allow our residents to get back to work," states the letter issued to Newsom.