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These priorities boost local health care efforts, transportation and infrastructure investments and environmental upgrades.
The Fifth Congressional District includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
“Across our district, there are critical local projects where investment is needed to improve access to health care, ensure we protect our environment and boost investment in infrastructure. That’s why I requested Federal funding in the Fiscal Year 2022 spending bills for local priorities identified by leaders in our district. I was glad to see these priorities funded in the bill and proud to vote to pass it today,” Thompson said Thursday.
He said the legislation passed Thursday boosts water infrastructure in Lake County through the county’s Full Circle Effluent Pipeline project and in Napa County through the St. Helena Water System project.
The bill also makes investments in the health care system, including the Accessing Coordinated Care and Empowering Self Sufficiency project and the renovation of the Rohnert Park Health Center site in Sonoma County, the rehabilitation of Truett Hall at Touro University Medical School in Solano County, and the Collaborative Care implementation project in Contra Costa County.
Finally, the legislation includes funding for a critical transportation upgrade in Lake County with the Kelseyville Sidewalk Project.
These funding priorities were included in H.R. 4502, the minibus legislation that includes funding for Interior, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Labor, Health and Human Services.
Projects included for California’s Fifth Congressional District are:
— $1,840,000 for the Napa County Deer Park/St. Helena Water System. This project would improve water infrastructure and increase onsite water storage at Adventist Health St. Helena Hospital, which owns and operates water storage, treatment, and distribution facilities that provide potable water to approximately 660 residents and hospital facilities.
— $320,000 for the Lake County Full Circle Effluent Pipeline Preliminary Design Report Update. This project would evaluate which of the existing wastewater treatment facilities in the project area would provide source water for the effluent pipeline the planned project features. With technological advances made since the completion of the 2004 Preliminary Design Report, this project will review alternatives for the final use of the treated effluent including geothermal energy production and agriculture irrigation.
— $450,000 for the Lake County Kelseyville Sidewalk Project to create one continuous sidewalk along the south side of Konocti Road in Kelseyville in order to implement the county’s Safe Routes to School Program.
— $900,000 for the Contra Costa County Collaborative Care Implementation project to boost both primary and mental and behavioral health care across the county.
— $1 million for Touro University to make crucial investments in campus improvement that will boost class size, increase the number of health providers on campus and boost health care across the region.
— $1.6 million for the Accessing Coordinated Care and Empowering Self Sufficiency project in Santa Rosa that will allow Sonoma County to expand the existing ACCESS program so the team there can better help vulnerable residents after disasters and other local crises, such as Public Safety Power Shutoffs.
— $1 million for Petaluma Health Center, Inc to renovate the Rohnert Park Health Center site to boost access to care for 5,000 local residents.
The heat advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday.
The National Weather Service said there also is the potential for lightning across the region — including northern Lake County — on Friday.
Temperatures across the North Coast area forecast to range between 100 and 110 degrees on Friday afternoon.
That will be followed by a cooling trend this weekend into early next week, the forecast said.
The specific Lake County forecast calls for temperatures of up to 102 degrees on Friday, with light winds. On Friday night, temperatures will drop into the low 60s.
From Saturday into next week, daytime temperatures in Lake County are forecast to be in the mid to high 90s. Nighttime temperatures will hover in the high 50s to low 60s.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
The newest dogs are at the top.
‘Blue Eyed Jack’
“Blue Eyed Jack” is a male German shepherd mix.
He is dog No. 5046.
‘Dash’
“Dash” is a male Chihuahua mix with a short tan coat.
He is dog No. 5040.
‘Petey’
“Petey” is a male American Staffordshire terrier mix with a black and white coat.
He is dog No. 4963.
‘Sissy’
“Sissy” is a female American Staffordshire terrier mix with a black coat.
She is dog No. 4964.
‘Bear’
“Bear” is a male American Staffordshire terrier mix with a short brown coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 3476.
‘Cleo’
“Cleo” is a female Doberman pinscher mix with a short gray coat who is new to the shelter.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 4865.
‘Dusty’
“Dusty” is a male American Pit Bull Terrier with a tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 4750.
‘Girly’
“Girly” is a senior female Chihuahua mix.
She has a short tan coat.
Girly is house-trained.
She is dog No. 4940.
‘Gizmo’
“Gizmo” is a senior male Chihuahua mix with a short tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 4902.
‘Ike’
“Ike” is a senior male Chihuahua.
He has a short tan coat.
He is dog No. 4942.
‘Jake’
“Jake” is a senior male Chihuahua mix.
He has a short tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 4941.
‘Lucky’
“Lucky” is a male Labrador retriever mix with a short yellow coat.
He is dog No. 4908.
‘Mara’
“Mara” is a female Rottweiler mix.
She has a short black and tan coat.
He is house-trained.
She is dog No. 4628.
‘Mary J’
“Mary J” is a female pit bull terrier mix.
She has a white and tan coat.
She is house-trained.
She is dog No. 4927.
‘Mitzy’
“Mitzy” is a female shepherd mix with a medium-length black and white coat.
She is dog No. 4648.
‘Mojo’
“Mojo” is a male Chihuahua mix with a short black and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 4881.
‘Oakley’
“Oakley” is a male pit bull terrier mix.
He has a short red and white coat.
He is dog No. 4934.
‘Patches’
“Patches” is a male Chihuahua mix with a short tricolor coat.
He is dog No. 4903.
‘Sassy’
“Sassy” is a female American bully mix with a short black coat.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 4602.
‘Tanisha’
“Tanisha” is a female shepherd mix with a short orange and white coat.
She is dog No. 4647.
‘Terry’
“Terry” is a male Dutch shepherd mix with a smooth brindle coat.
He is dog No. 4880.
‘Tinsel’
“Tinsel” is a female American pit bull terrier mix with a short brindle and brown coat.
She is dog No. 4433.
‘Yule’
“Yule” is a male husky with a medium-length black and white coat.
He is dog No. 4432.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Vaccinated people need to mask up again, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On July 27, 2021, the CDC recommended that everyone in areas with high COVID-19 infection rates wear masks in public indoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status.
It’s a reversal from the CDC’s May 2021 advice that the fully vaccinated could leave their masks at home and brought U.S. guidelines more in line with World Health Organization recommendations.
The Conversation asked Peter Chin-Hong, a physician who specializes in infectious diseases at the University of California, San Francisco, to help put into context the science behind the changing messages.
What science supports masking after vaccination?
Masks help stop the spread of the coronavirus. They’re a literal layer between you and any virus in the air and can help prevent infection.
The reason public health officials are calling for more mask-wearing is that there is clear and mounting evidence that – though rare – breakthrough COVID-19 infections can occur in people who are fully vaccinated. This is particularly true with emerging variants of concern. The good news is that COVID-19 infection, if it does happen, is much less likely to lead to serious illness or death in vaccinated people.
Some conditions make a breakthrough infection more likely in a vaccinated person: more virus circulating in the community, lower vaccination rates and more highly transmissible variants.
If vaccinated people can get infected with the coronavirus, they can also spread it. Hence the CDC recommendation that vaccinated people remain masked in indoor public spaces to help stop viral transmission.
Where will the guidelines apply?
The CDC mask recommendation targets areas in the U.S. with more than 50 new infections per 100,000 residents or that had more than 8% of tests come back positive during the previous week. By the CDC’s own definitions “substantial” community transmission is 50 to 99 cases of infection per 100,000 people per week, and “high” is 100 or more.
Los Angeles County, for example, far surpassed that mark in mid-July, with more than 10,000 coronavirus cases per week.
Using these criteria, the CDC guidance applied to 63% of U.S. counties on the day it was announced.
Who’s actually protected by masking recommendations?
The recommendation that fully vaccinated people continue wearing masks is primarily intended to protect the unvaccinated – which includes kids under age 12 who are not yet eligible for vaccines in the U.S. The CDC further recommends masking in public for vaccinated people with unvaccinated household members, regardless of local community transmission rates.
Unvaccinated people are at a substantially higher risk of getting infected with and transmitting SARS-CoV-2, and of developing complications from COVID-19.
How do new variants like delta change things?
Preliminary data suggests that the rise of variants like delta may increase the chance of breakthrough infections in people who received only their first vaccine dose. For instance, one study found that a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine had an effectiveness of just 34% against the delta variant, compared with 51% against the older alpha variant in terms of warding off symptomatic disease.
The data is more reassuring for those who have been fully vaccinated. After two doses, the Pfizer vaccine still provides strong protection against the delta variant, according to real-world data from Scotland and a variety of other countries; and in preliminary studies out of Canada and England, researchers noted only a “modest” decrease in effectiveness against symptomatic disease, from 93% for the alpha variant to 88% for delta.
Other recent preliminary reports from highly vaccinated countries like Israel and Singapore are sobering, however. Before the delta variant became widespread, from January to April 2021, Israel reported that the Pfizer vaccine was 97% effective in preventing symptomatic disease. Since June 20, 2021, with the delta variant circulating more widely, the Pfizer vaccine has been only 41% effective in preventing symptomatic disease, according to preliminary data reported by Israel’s Ministry of Health in late July. An analysis using government data from Singapore demonstrated that 75% of recent COVID-19 infections were in people who were at least partially vaccinated – though most of them were not severely ill.
In all reports and studies, however, vaccines remain very good at preventing hospitalizations and severe disease due to the delta variant – arguably the outcomes we most care about.
All of this emerging data supports the WHO’s global recommendation that even fully vaccinated individuals continue to wear masks. Most of the world still has low vaccination rates and uses a range of vaccines with variable efficacies, and countries have different burdens of circulating SARS-CoV-2 virus.
With U.S. case counts and breakthrough infection numbers headed in what public health officials consider the wrong direction, it makes sense that the CDC would modify its masking recommendations to be more conservative.
What conditions in the US warrant masking up (again)?
It makes sense that the CDC didn’t immediately change its recommendations to fall in line with the WHO’s June guidelines. With an overall high countrywide vaccination rate and a low overall COVID-19 hospitalization and death burden, the U.S. has a COVID-19 landscape very different from that in most of the world.
Additionally, some experts worried that an official message that the vaccinated should don masks might dissuade unvaccinated individuals from seeking vaccines.
But as President Joe Biden put it on July 27, “new research and concerns about the delta variant” are behind the CDC’s change in masking recommendations.
Some locations are seeing further increase in community transmission, even among vaccinated people. New preliminary research yet to be peer reviewed suggests the delta variant is associated with a viral load a thousand times higher in patients than seen with older strains. And early reports show infected vaccinated people with the delta variant can carry just as high an amount of virus as the unvaccinated that they can in turn spread to others.
The shifting recommendations don’t mean that the old ones were wrong, necessarily, only that conditions have changed. The bottom line? Masks do help cut down on coronavirus transmission, but it’s still vaccines that offer the best protection.
This is an updated version of an article originally published on July 22, 2021.
Peter Chin-Hong, Associate Dean for Regional Campuses, University of California, San Francisco
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Board Chair Bruno Sabatier presented the urgency ordinance to the board.
It will require land use applicants — no matter what type of project — to provide hydrology reports.
Over the past month, the Lake County Planning Commission’s members — in particular, District 1 Commissioner John Hess — have stated at their meetings that they wanted more guidance from the Board of Supervisors about how to assess projects and water usage, especially as the drought situation has worsened.
Many of the projects they’ve been considering recently, the majority of them cannabis projects, use millions of gallons of water.
The commission and county staff raised issues about the need for more thorough water reporting, and earlier this month had put off a decision for two weeks on a proposed project at High Valley Ranch in Clearlake Oaks in order to seek more information from the applicant.
Sabatier and other board members noted during their discussion that they had heard the commission’s comments in recent months and wanted to respond to them, with a view to introducing long-term rules to analyze water usage.
In his written report on the item, Sabatier said the commission’s requests for guidance and direction came “during these hard and difficult times where economic development and the urgent need to conserve water seem to be clashing.”
During the discussion, explaining the importance of taking up the matter, board members referred to a report earlier in the meeting from the county’s Drought Task Force in which it was reported that the county expects to receive a total of 200 permit applications for new wells by year’s end. That’s compared to 148 last year, the highest number of permits applied for since 2015.
Sabatier said that one of the projects the commission had approved over the last two months and which was appealed to the board — an apparent reference to the WeGrow LLC project near Hidden Valley Lake — had estimated numbers for water usage but no accompanying report.
Similarly, commission agenda packets often don’t have water reports included in them, as Lake County News has reported.
Sabatier’s proposed urgency ordinance adds the requirement for a full hydrology report, explaining he’d like that to eventually be added as a permanent standard. Applicants also would be required to draft a drought management plan on how to conserve water.
Supervisor Jessica Pyska said the board had an opportunity to be proactive. “If we don’t have water, we don’t have anything,” she said, adding it was “eye-opening” to find out how many new wells are going in.
Pyska said it’s important to step back and make sure they are in a place where they can sustain this type of development.
Supervisor Tina Scott agreed with moving forward, saying she also wanted to see such hydrology reporting made permanent.
Supervisor Moke Simon — who appointed Hess as planning commissioner — said more conversations need to be had on a permanent solution.
“Fears are running rampant right now with what we’re doing with water use,” he said.
During public comment, several suggestions were made to fine-tune the document.
Consultant Richard Knoll said the ordinance seemed well-intended but wasn’t comprehensive enough. He said it needed to define who is to prepare the reports, suggesting a qualified hydrologist or engineer.
He said the reports also needed to account for other sources of water, beyond wells, including surface water, rainwater and catchment, and not look just at recharge of on-site wells but also the aquifer itself.
Knoll suggested the county should consult with a qualified hydrologist to develop the scope of work of what they’re looking for in the reports.
“We really need to do this as soon as possible,” said Peggie King, who recommended a state licensed hydrologist be required to conduct the reports.
King said there are cumulative impacts important to review so everyone has their fair share of the water in the basin. If the county starts to overdraft or impact low impact basins, that’s going to trigger state groundwater management rules, she said.
Fine-tuning language
After hearing the comments, Pyska said she was concerned that the ordinance required more work to be as strong and effective as needed. She wanted to take another week.
County Counsel Anita Grant agreed that it was important to add language requiring the reports be done by licensed hydrologists and said it could take longer than a week to find a hydrologist just to consult the county.
Simon also supported the hydrologist language and wanted to move forward with accepting the document on Tuesday in order to put one more tool in the hands of the Planning Commission.
Sabatier said that, currently, 95% of the time, the projects before the commission are for cannabis, with the typical water source being a well. When the commission asks for a hydrology report, it delays things further and people already have been waiting to get their projects through the process.
“The wait is exacerbated when it goes in front of the Planning Commission and the Planning Commission requests something else,” he said.
He agreed to add the language requiring a hydrologist and then asked Grant if adding language about a project’s type of water sources was too substantial of a change to do that same day.
“This is an urgency ordinance. There’s no such thing as too substantial of a change that you could make on the face of the document today,” said Grant.
The source of water included in the document may be a little vague but Grant said it’s better than limiting it to wells.
Grant also told the board during the discussion, “Application will give you a better understanding of the approach and the definitions for this urgency ordinance. And it’s not a one and done. You are fully capable of being able to come back and flesh it out.”
She said that if the board wants a permanent ordinance, the supervisors may want to have a hydrology expert consult with them on how best to craft that permanent ordinance. “You’re not without options.”
Water Resources and Public Works Director Scott De Leon suggested to the board that they add licensed civil engineers to the list of professionals who can do the hydrology reports.
Other commenters agreed with De Leon, noting the difficulty of finding qualified and available hydrologists.
Their suggestions would result in the board updating the urgency ordinance language to allow the hydrology reports to be prepared by civil engineers, hydrologists, hydrogeologists or geologists with experience in water resources.
At Grant’s suggestion, Sabatier also fine-tuned the ordinance language to require the approximate amount of water available for the project’s water identified source, the approximate recharge rate for that source and the cumulative impact of the project’s water use on surrounding areas.
“I’m not going to hold this up today, but I think this process is sloppy,” said Pyska.
She said she wants the county counsel to be involved in drafting urgency ordinances with adequate time to review them. “I think we can do better.”
Sabatier passed the gavel to Supervisor EJ Crandell so that he could offer the ordinance with the amendments.
The board passed ordinance 5-0; it needed at least a four-fifths vote.
The ordinance went into effect immediately upon the board’s approval.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
On Wednesday, State Public Health Officer Tomás Aragón, MD, DrPH, and the California Department of Public Health, or CDPH, updated statewide face covering guidance.
“The Delta variant has caused a sharp increase in hospitalizations and case rates across the state. We are recommending masking in indoor public places to slow the spread while we continue efforts to get more Californians vaccinated,” said Aragón.
This update came in light of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Tuesday changes to its “Guidance for Fully Vaccinated People,” made in light of new evidence regarding the Delta Variant (B.1.617.2).
The CDC is now recommending all individuals in areas of “substantial or high transmission” wear a face covering in “public indoor settings.”
Under the CDC’s new guidance, more than 90% of California’s population is currently in areas designated as substantial or high transmission, CDPH reported.
Lake County, with the highest case rate in the state of California, is clearly in the “high transmission” category, confirmed by this CDC tracking tool.
CDPH has extended the recommendation to mask indoors to all Californians, regardless of vaccination status, “To achieve universal masking in indoor public settings.”
According to the CDC, getting vaccinated helps protect from the virus and the circulating variants, including the Delta variant that is now seen in the majority of California’s new cases.
California continues to work to increase vaccination rates across the state. This week, California took the nation-leading step of requiring state and health care employees to provide proof of vaccination or submit to regular testing.
California had also led with its K-12 school guidance, requiring universal masking and other prevention measures as schools fully open for the upcoming school year.
CDPH is continuing to motivate businesses and local communities to encourage vaccination to prevent new outbreaks in areas of substantial and high transmission.
Last week, the Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution urging the public to continue to wear masks in indoor public settings in Lake County.
The CDC, CDPH and Lake County Board of Supervisors all stopped short of mandating masking for vaccinated individuals, except in limited circumstances — e.g.: public transit; indoor K-12 schools and other child care settings; emergency shelters and formal cooling centers; all health care settings; correctional, detention and other congregate settings.
However, Lake County’s case rate continues to trend upward. On Wednesday, it was 52 cases per 100,000 (when removing the seven-day delay employed by state reporting).
The Delta variant is known to be present in Lake County, and reportedly carries 1,000 times the viral load of the “mother virus,” and has been described by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky as “hyper-transmissible,” and “one of the most infectious respiratory viruses we know of and that I have seen in my 20-year career.”
Hospitalizations and case rates are increasing across the state. Lake County has been more affected than most localities.
Community members are urged to do their part to protect immunocompromised individuals, for example, who “might be at increased risk for severe COVID,” even if they are vaccinated.
Health officials said Increasing the vaccination percentage is Lake County’s best known defense against COVID, and the proliferation of variants that pose threats previously unseen for generations. Some new options for vaccination are described here.
The county of Lake is asking residents to wear masks, wash their hands and maintain physical distancing.
“Do these things not merely out of obligation, but because we are a close-knit County that cares about helping each other out,” county health officials said in a Wednesday statement. “Your personally choosing to tolerate minor inconveniences now may make all the difference for someone you know and love.”