Sonoma County reports second coronavirus case contracted in community

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A Rohnert Park healthcare worker was the first of two Sonoma County residents to have contracted the coronavirus locally, health officials said Sunday, marking a new front in the county’s fight against the advancing pandemic.

Before Saturday, county health authorities had identified just three coronavirus patients - ­­­all connected to cruise ships - but two new cases emerged within 24 hours over the weekend, including a fifth patient about which the county had almost no public information late Sunday.

Meanwhile, officials overseeing the Rohnert Park Health Center said Sunday morning that one of their employees was the first person confirmed in the county to contract the virus locally.

“Based on our investigation, there is reason to believe that their exposure to the virus was from sources outside our clinical facilities,” Petaluma Health Center, the clinic’s nonprofit parent, said in a written statement.

Both of the new, unidentified patients who contracted the virus locally have been asked to quarantine at home as the search begins for anyone they may have contacted while carrying the novel coronarvirus that causes COVID-19, a respiratory disease.

In effect, the expanded testing begun last week in the county showed what authorities and many health experts already expected.

“What it tells us is that this virus is in our community,” said Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s interim health officer and point person on the pandemic. “It’s not coming from a known source, so it’s out there and spreading, and we need to find people who’ve been infected.”

Sonoma County’s efforts come amid an ever-widening shutdown of many parts of American commercial and civil life.

That list grew this weekend to include local libraries, retail hubs and public schools accounting for a majority of the county’s nearly 70,000 K-12 students, most of which won’t resume in-person classes until early April.

And Gov. Gavin Newsom issued guidance likely to add to the closures, called on winery tasting rooms, nightclubs and bars to close and for restaurants to limit capacity, while asking seniors and at-risk people to self-isolate in their homes to safeguard against spread of the deadly virus.

It has infected over 300 people statewide, and resulted in six deaths. Nationally, over 3,100 have contracted the disease, and 66 have died. There are more than 150,000 confirmed cases throughout the world, where a total of more than 6,200 have died.

In Sonoma County, health officials say, the disease is in its infancy.

“We can’t prevent more cases from coming,” Mase said. “We need to be aware this is just starting here in Sonoma County.”

Health officials have yet to carry out modeling that would show how serious the spread is currently or how bad it might get, but Barbie Robinson, director of the county’s Department of Health Services, said there are plans underway to seek Board of Supervisors guidance this week on those steps.

County officials have divulged little information about the newest coronavirus cases, claiming broad patient privacy concerns.

Petaluma Health Center put out the first and only public notice with basic details about the first case of community spread linked to its clinic in Rohnert Park.

“We are taking every precaution to protect other employees and our patients,” nonprofit officials said. “We remain confident in our personal protection standards.”

A noon news conference hosted by Sonoma County provided little more information about that initial case, with officials refusing to answer questions about the employee’s role, whether the employee was symptomatic when he or she was tested and how many people the employee may have come into contact with.

Mase said county officials have not yet been able to contact the latest person to test positive for the virus, which the county confirmed in a Sunday night news release.

Mase and Robinson said details they have been unwilling to disclose about individual cases – including age, gender, location of treatment and other details - aren’t as important as getting the message out to the public about the importance of social distancing and limiting exposure to large groups of people.

“We’re going to see a lot of cases over the next couple of weeks, couple of months, but what we have to do is bend the curve and flatten the curve,” Mase said, speaking of the need to reduce short-term loads on local hospitals and other health care sites.

Robinson praised Mase, who was appointed this past Tuesday, for taking quick action to limit public gatherings to fewer than 250 people.

In a late Sunday phone interview, Mase signaled that more guidance - or orders - would be coming from her office.

Citing recommendations from the state health officials, Mase said it was likely the county would act to limit gatherings at movie theaters and casinos, although it was unclear whether the county had the authority to enact any mandatory directive for the tribal casinos on sovereign land.

Mase’s order last week on public gatherings preceded a wave of cancellations and postponements, as more than two dozen Sonoma County K-12 school districts announced plans to close through April, joining Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State University, all closing ahead of spring break and for several weeks ahead.