Three Santa Rosa police officers, Sonoma County sheriff's deputy test positive for coronavirus

For more stories about the coronavirus, go here .

Questions or concerns can be directed to the county’s 24-hour information hotline at 211 or 800-325-9604. You can also text "COVID19" to 211211 for coronavirus information.

• Washing hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds • Avoid touching your eyes and face • Cough or sneeze into your sleeved elbow • Stay home when ill • Get a flu shot, and it’s not too late this season

Local health officials urge practicing good hygiene to reduce the risk of becoming infected with a respiratory virus, such as the flu or coronavirus. This includes:

Three Santa Rosa police officers and a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy have tested positive for COVID-19 and are among the 34 cases of the viral disease reported so far in Sonoma County, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

All four tested positive for coronavirus in the past week — including one whose test was confirmed Tuesday afternoon. They are in isolation, at least one at a local hospital, officials said. One of the three officers had “minimal” contact with the public recently and the others had no contact, while the deputy had recently returned from a vacation, officials said.

“Right now, our thoughts are with them as they recover,” Santa Rosa Police Chief Ray Navarro said during a news briefing Tuesday.

The recent cases emerged as health officials around California continued to warn of a coming surge in illnesses, as transmission of coronavirus involving those who are unprotected — and perhaps asymptomatic — continues.

In Sonoma County, officials are honing in on alternative sites that can be converted to house nonacute patients, once local hospitals reach capacity, Emergency Management Director Chris Godley said.

Godley said the county would need about 500 additional beds for a moderate-to-severe outbreak.

Sonoma County Health Officer Sundari Mase said she hoped that aggressive steps taken to curb the spread of the virus, including a shelter-in-place order issued last week and, more recently, closure of all parks in the county, might mitigate the surge.

She also said she spoke Tuesday with law enforcement chiefs and urged them to follow up on reports of “nonessential” businesses that had remained in operation in violation of the preventive order to “see if there is any need for them to gently nudge” those found out of compliance to align with new regulations and close.

Godley said it was mostly a question of continuing to educate the public.

“It’s really looking at the spirit of the public health order,” he said. “Why are we doing this? It’s not just a zoning or a building code. It’s a life-safety impact.”

Sonoma County has lost one resident to the virus, which has killed more than 700 people in the United States, including 50 in California, according to the New York Times.

Two of the 34 people confirmed positive through testing have recovered, leaving 31 active cases, officials said.

The sheriff’s deputy sought testing last week after returning from vacation.

He has not returned to work since arriving home and is in stable condition at a local hospital, department spokesman Sgt. Juan Valencia said.

The three Santa Rosa officers were tested after they began feeling sick — two of them Friday and one earlier this week, Navarro said.

One was in a patrol position and had “minimal contact with the public,” Navarro said. The second worked inside the police department and had no contact with the public, and the third is a detective who had no public interaction in recent weeks, he said.

Six other department employees, both sworn and civilian, were self-quarantined, either because they are showing signs of illness or because they may have been exposed to the virus, though one later tested negative for the virus, city officials said.