Solano County health officer says shelter-in-place orders causing overreaction But employees must practice social distancing, says Dr. Beta Matyas

Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County health officer, explains in a YouTube video why the county hasn't issued a shelter-in-place order like other Bay Area counties. Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County health officer, explains in a YouTube video why the county hasn't issued a shelter-in-place order like other Bay Area counties. Photo: YouTube Photo: YouTube Image 1 of / 49 Caption Close Solano County health officer says shelter-in-place orders causing overreaction 1 / 49 Back to Gallery

Update: After this article was published, Solano County issued a shelter-in-place order Wednesday night, March 18, 2020. More information can be found here.

The health officer for Solano County, one of the few Bay Area counties that have not issued shelter-in-place orders, says cubicles protect workers from the spread of the novel coronavirus in an office setting.

Dr. Bela Matyas took to YouTube on Tuesday to explain his view that county residents need to practice social distancing and common sense to protect themselves, not create public panic.

Matyas says that the orders issued by the now eight other Bay Area counties requiring residents to stay in their homes as much as possible and keep away from others in order to keep COVID-19 cases from surging have caused people to overreact.

"All that these counties have done is issued county-specific social distancing orders that mirror what the governor has already issued,' Matyas said, explaining why the county has not issued a similar order.

"If you actually look at the language of those orders, there is nothing different between them and what the governor and the president have been talking about for quite a while," he added.

"I think there’s been a lot of significant misrepresentation of the content of those orders," he said. "And it’s unfortunate because they’ve been accompanied by a lot more panic and concern."

Matyas warned that people staying home from work that is essential is potentially harmful to businesses and the economy.

"But we do have disease, we know that there’s a lot of disease in our community," he added. "The good news is that so far our hospitals have not been experiencing an inundation of people needing high-level care."

However, he added following the advice from the Centers for Disease Control and the State of California regarding hygiene, social distancing and using common sense in public is important to helping to curb the pandemic.

Matyas warned against letting your guard down when interacting with friends and coworkers saying they are "much more likely to transmit the disease to you than total strangers." He advised people to stand 6 feet apart, "because that’s how far a cough or a sneeze will go."

"Obviously if they’re not coughing or sneezing you can stand closer, but at least still stay an arm’s length away from one another in case they spit when they talk," he said.

Employees who don’t work in an open-plan office, and who practice the 6-foot rule, have nothing to worry about, according to Matyas.

"In the workplace with cubicles and offices, you’re golden," he said. "Cubicle walls will prohibit the transmission of the virus through the wall. It’s not going to go through the wall, saliva’s not going to go through the wall, you’re totally protected."

Read the county's guidance here.

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Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Digital Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate