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First California coronavirus death confirmed in Placer County, health officials say Share Shares Copy Link Copy

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the individual developed symptoms while on a princess cruise from San Francisco to Mexico. They were treated at Kaiser Permanente Roseville since February 27th and passed away early this morning. I want to express my sincere condolences to the loved ones of this patient. I also want to thank the health care workers at Kaiser Permanente Roseville who have provided outstanding care in this challenging situation. This death represents the first death in the state of California from Cove in 19 and mark the tragic milestone for our community. While we expected more cove in 19 cases and eventually does this death in our second case is a sobering reminder that while the vast majority of cases of cove in 19 worldwide have been mild, older persons and persons with underlying medical conditions are at increased risk of serious disease. Plaster county public health has been constant, conducting intensive contact tracing to identify and contact health care workers and community members who were exposed to this individual within the plaster community. Preliminary understanding from the contact investigation is that this patient had minimal community exposure between returning from the cruise and arriving at the hospital by ambulance on February 27th. We are working with partners in Sacramento County and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify and contact persons who may have been exposed on the cruise ship or during return transit from San Francisco to Plaster County. All health care and emergency medical service is personnel who were exposed to the deceased have been identified and notified. We're following CDC protocols to assess risk their risk based on what personal protective equipment they were wearing at the time of exposure and our quarantining personnel as needed and monitoring them for development of symptoms. 10 health care workers at Kaiser Permanente, Roseville and five Emergency Medical Service is personnel were exposed and are under quarantine for 14 days. All of these persons are asymptomatic. Some of these employees did have contact with the public after being exposed to the confirmed case, but because they had no symptoms during that time and remain without symptoms, the risk of transmission of cove it 19 to the public based on exposure to these asymptomatic workers is very low. If any, there is no increased risk to patients seeking care at Kaiser Permanente Roseville moving forward to prevent future exposure of E. M s personnel. Plaster County Public Health has advised Local 911 dispatch to screen collars for respiratory symptoms so that first responders can take appropriate precautions when responding to emergency calls. The deceased was a passenger on a princess cruise from San Francisco to Mexico on February 11th. 2 February 21st at least one other passenger on the same cruise ship from another county tested presumptively positive for Cove in 19. The CDC and Princess Cruises are working to notify all passengers of their possible exposure at this time out of an abundance of precaution. Plaster County Public Health is requesting that any individuals who were local passengers on this voyage voluntarily self quarantine and monitor themselves for symptoms. Should they develop fever, cough or shortness of breath, they should notify of plaster county public health. As a result of our ongoing investigation, I no longer believe that the risk to the general public from Cove It 19 and Plaster County is low. As health officer, I urge plaster county residents to be vigilant and to take steps to protect themselves from Cove in 19. Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands, stay home. When you're sick, cough into a tissue or your sleeve clean surfaces more often. Well, we are not at the point where I would consider canceling events. Closing schools are requiring widespread social distancing measures. We do want the public to prepare for that possibility. It's also good to have two weeks of supplies on hand. In case your family was asked to quarantine yesterday, we announced the declaration of a local health emergency and local emergency that will allow us to leverage. Additional resource is as we work to limit the spread of disease in our community. Plaster county public health has activated our department operations center. We appreciate the support of our partners at the CDC and the California Department of Public Health. We're also grateful for the dedication of our first responders and healthcare providers who put themselves in harm's way every day to help members of our community. We understand that our community is anxious about Cove in 19 and that's natural. We continue to encourage you to turn that anxiety into action, especially by taking the measures we've outlined on our website toe help protect our most vulnerable residents. These measures include staying home not allowing sick visitors to enter the home, washing hands frequently and minimizing contact with other people and shared surfaces or objects whenever leaving the home is necessary. Our public health team is working tirelessly to minimize the impacts of this disease on our residents. Many of us in public health live here. Our Children go to school here, we shop and play here. We know this community and we know that Plaster county is strong and can pull together in the face of this challenge in the coming weeks. It is important that we all look out for one another and will continue to pride provide updates to you so that you can stay informed with accurate information. Thank you and stay healthy.