Mono County COVID-19 News and Updates: March 26
Mono County has six confirmed cases of COVID-19; New Public Health projections; Mammoth Hospital on surge capacity and fear
Mono County has six confirmed cases of COVID-19; Public Health projections; Mammoth Hospital on surge capacity, personal protective equipment, and fear
By Monica Prelle
Mono County now has six confirmed cases of COVID-19 with two additional positives being confirmed Thursday morning, according to Mono County Public Health. The additional cases confirm what public health officials have been saying for weeks — that the coronavirus is, and has been, here.
“It is spreading in the community,” Public Health Officer Dr. Boo said. “People need to be careful and follow recommendations of distancing.”
State modeling shows that 5% to 10% of cases are hospitalized and in Mono County four patients have been hospitalized. Using those numbers, Dr. Boo estimates that there are 40 to 100 cases in the community right now. The time it takes for cases to double seems to be 4 to 6 days, Dr. Boo said.
Last week Gov. Gavin Newsom projected 56% infection in the state, roughly 22 million Californians, however Dr. Tom Boo reminds us that the peak number can be decreased by 30% to 70% with strict distancing practices.
“The numbers we put out assume that we are just along for the ride — we’re not,” Gov. Newsom said. “We want to manipulate those numbers down, that is what (the stay at home) order is about.”
The U.S. now has the world’s most coronavirus cases, with 85,505 total positive test results and nearly 1,300 deaths, according to John Hopkins University data. In California there are currently 3,944 confirmed cases and 80 deaths, more than 30% increase in the last 24 hours.
Gov. Gavin Newsom also rattled off some new statistics yesterday, reminding Californians that young people are not immune to the coronavirus. A 17 year-old girl died two days ago, 37 people under the age of 17 have tested positive in the state, and 51% of positive cases are adults 18 to 49, Newsom said.
In Mono County, the ages of confirmed COVID-19 postive cases range from mid-30s to mid-60s. Even still, the medical community cautions that numbers are often misleading, as testing capability is far behind where it should be in the U.S.
Of the six positives in Mono County, two critically ill patients were transferred to Reno; in addition, one critically ill patient who was transferred may be a false negative. A resident, who was infected locally and then traveled, has tested positive and is being treated and will be counted in Tuolumne County; other patients who were treated locally have recovered.
Dr. Boo says the health department continues contact tracing, the close monitoring of people after exposure to an infected person, in order to mitigate and slow the spread of the coronavirus. He says that two cases were linked to a specific location, or a pair of locations where people work, but those places are closed and safe now.
As test results slowly confirm positive cases, Mammoth Hospital continues to ramp up efforts to address surge capacity, medical and protective equipment, as well as human resources in the county’s ongoing COVID-19 response.
Mammoth Hospital has 17 beds and is ready to expand capacity by adding temporary beds and cots, to be able to care for more people. There are big efforts state-wide to increase hospital bed capacity, but the bigger concern locally is oxygen.
“We believe oxygen is going to be the precious resource and assistance with breathing — ventilation, respirators,” Dr. Boo said. “Most of our discussion and efforts have been focused on that and there is a lot of contingency planning around it.”
Mammoth Hospital has four ventilators plus an anesthesia machine that can serve in a pinch, Dr. Boo said. The hospital has ordered more ventilators, though the supply line is long. The county also procured additional oxygen concentrators.
Plans are underway to create a triage team, which will assess people on the phone and follow-up with patients outside of the hospital. Additionally, the hospital is restructuring; two-thirds will be available for COVID-19 patients and the other one-third will be kept clean for other essential medical services.
A state-wide initiative is recruiting people with various healthcare skill sets through the Disaster Health Volunteers. People can register themselves in the data base and will be assigned to roles by local health officials. Mono County Public Health plans to announce a call for local volunteers next week.
The state also continues to expand its efforts to acquire personal protective equipment and Gov. Newsom said yesterday that the state had just distributed 24.2 million new N95 masks.
“It’s still insignificant to meet our needs,” he said.
The state has procured an additional 100 million N95 masks, as well as coveralls, gowns and shield. Sir Richard Branson and Virgin committed to flying a 747 to Hong Kong and will return to the Oakland airport with a significant number of the committed personal protective equipment and 150,000 new test kits.
Elon Musk announced a commitment for 1,225 new ventilators and Bloom Energy has repurposed a manufacturing plant and is now converting 30 ventilators a day.
“The testing issues are incredibly important to Californians and Americans,” Newsom said. “We, like others, have been very vocal about the issues in the last few weeks.”
According to Mammoth Hospital CEO Tom Parker, the hospital has enough tests for the next few weeks, until more can be ordered. The hospital does not plan to expand criteria for testing.
Even with the state working aggressively to acquire and distribute equipment to hospitals around the state, Mammoth Hospital launched a community drive and is accepting donations of N95 masks and other items currently in short supply.
“The last thing we want to do is run out of capacity, whether that is inpatient beds or supplies or ventilators,” Parker said. “The work the community is doing to distance, wash and cover is especially effective at giving us a chance to take care of you should you fall ill.”
Parker also explained that simple surgical masks are adequate for sick patients to prevent the transmission to somebody else, and that N95 masks are most important to healthcare workers for protection from sick patients.
“We need to acknowledge that there is some element of fear with this,” Parker said. “Fear really is related to a spread that is faster than we can handle — and this is absolutely within our control.”
“We are advocating for people to really be aggressive with distancing, physical distancing. As you stay home and you limit the number of trips you take, you are doing amazing things for your neighbors and your loved ones in the community, you are helping to slow down the virus.”
Mono County is currently reporting six positive cases, 48 negative, and 12 tests pending; a total of 66 tests have been administered. Inyo County is currently reporting two positive cases, 37 negative, and 29 tests pending.
The virtual Mono County community meeting is now scheduled weekly on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. Daily updates and information is available in English and Spanish online or by calling the 2–1–1 information line.
Monica Prelle is a Mammoth Lakes-based independent journalist.