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This latest death is the sixth in the county overall, Dr. Gary Pace said.
Pace said on Tuesday afternoon that the individual lived at the same local senior residential facility where the recent outbreak has occurred.
This latest patient to die was over the age of 65 with underlying chronic medical issues and tested positive prior to becoming symptomatic, Pace said.
Pace has declined to identify the facility, where two previous COVID-19 deaths were reported on Aug. 29 and Sept. 1, as Lake County News has reported.
The facility has confirmed with Public Heatlh that it has notified all residents and their families of the outbreak, Pace told Lake County News.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Lake County Public Health said there are 368 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county, of which 26 are active – and are under Public Health monitoring – while two are hospitalized and 336 have recovered.
To date, approximately 10,173 tests for the virus have been conducted in Lake County, Public Health reported.
“We encourage everyone to pause for a minute and recognize that taking an extra step of
Prevention – like wearing a mask or avoiding a social event— could potentially save a life,” Pace said. “Even though many people when infected don’t get very sick, this COVID can be deadly.”
Residents seeking public health information on how to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus
can access Lake County’s Public Health Division webpage or call the COVID-19 hotline at 707-263-8174 to speak to a Public Health adviser.
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Within hours of flare-ups being reported on the LNU Lightning Complex’s Walbridge fire in Sonoma County, a new evacuation order and evacuation warning were implemented near that fire.
Cal Fire said Monday night that the complex remained at 375,209 acres and 91-percent containment.
On Monday afternoon, reports made over radio traffic stated that there were flare-ups on the Walbridge fire, burning west of Healdsburg, which is 54,940 acres and 95-percent contained.
Cal Fire said fire activity increased within the Walbridge containment lines on Monday, with firefighters on the ground supported by aircraft.
On Saturday, all remaining evacuation orders and warnings had been lifted. However, due to the situation on the Walbridge fire, shortly after 10 p.m. Monday, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office issued a mandatory evacuation order for areas south of south of Mill Creek Road, north of Sweetwater Springs Road, west of Westside Road and east of Palmer Creek Road.
At the same time, the agency issued an evacuation warning for the area north of the Russian River, east of Armstrong Woods Road, west of Westside Road and south of Sweetwater Springs Road.
An interactive map of the Sonoma County evacuation area can be found here.
On the Lake County side of the complex, the Hennessey fire – which also is burning in Colusa, Napa, Solano and Yolo counties – remained at 317,909 acres and 91-percent containment, Cal Fire said.
Assigned resources on the incident on Monday night totaled 1,315 personnel, 85 engines, 34 water tenders, four helicopters, 29 hand crews and 35 dozers.
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The Employment Development Department said California’s unemployment rate was 13.3 percent in July thanks to the addition of 140,400 new jobs. That’s down 1.6 percent from June 2020, but up 9.3 percent from July of last year.
The Employment Development Department said California has now regained about a third – or 31.2 percent – of the 2,625,500 nonfarm jobs lost during March and April as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite California’s unemployment rate of 13.3 percent being noticeably lower than the record high of 16.4 percent from April and May, it is still above the 12.3 percent mark set during the height of the Great Recession in March, October and November 2010.
In Lake County, employment in July was 11.6 percent, down from a final rate of 14.2 percent in June, 15.5 percent in May and 16.7 percent in April, according to state data.
For comparison, Lake County’s July 2019 unemployment rate was 5.1 percent.
California had a record gain of 542,500 jobs in June and record losses from March and April in a data series that dates back to 1976, officials reported.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the nationwide unemployment rate in July was 10.2 percent, down from 11.1 percent in June, 13.2 percent in May and 14.7 percent in April.
Lake County’s civilian labor force in July totaled 26,920, up from 25,850 in June. The number of unemployed in July totaled 3,130, down from 3,670 in June, according to state data.
The farming sector in Lake County added nearly 300 jobs in July, an increase of 34.5 percent, with total nonfarm jobs up by 5.3 percent, or 680 jobs. That’s still down by 9.6 percent when compared with jobs in July 2019.
Within the nonfarm jobs category, the strongest sectors included goods producing, 35.5 percent; total private, 12.2 percent; private service providing, 9.6 percent; and service providing, 2.9 percent.
Leisure and hospitality, a subcategory of private service providing, showed an increase of 32.9 percent since June, but a year-over decrease of 18.6 percent.
The only subcategory showing job losses in any sector was government, down by 13 percent.
Lake County’s July jobless rate ranked it No. 31 of California’s 58 counties.
Lake’s neighboring county jobless rates and ranks for November are Colusa, 15.3 percent, No. 53; Glenn, 10.8 percent, No. 20; Mendocino, 10.9 percent, No. 22; Napa, 10.4 percent, No. 17; Sonoma, 9.8 percent, No. 11; and Yolo, 9.5 percent, No. 9.
In July, the impacts of the pandemic continued to give some rural counties higher jobless rankings than the urban areas that historically have been placed higher.
Trinity and Lassen counties tied with the lowest unemployment statement, at 8.6 percent, followed by Marin and Modoc, tied at 8.8 percent, and San Mateo at 9.2 percent.
The high unemployment in July was in Imperial County, 26.8 percent, with Los Angeles, 18.2 percent, Mono, 16.6 percent, Kern, 16.5 percent, and Tulare, 16.2 percent, rounding out the bottom five.
State job picture improving
The Employment Development Department said the number of Californians holding jobs in July was 16,293,900, an increase of 153,700 from June, but down 2,315,400 from the employment total in July of last year.
At the same time, the number of unemployed Californians was 2,510,100 in July, a decrease of 320,800 over the month, but up by 1,738,500 compared with July of last year.
Total nonfarm jobs in California’s 11 major industries totaled 15,796,100 in July – a net gain of 140,400 jobs from June. That job total is 113,400 fewer than June 2020 and down 1,643,600 from July of last year.
Total nonfarm jobs decreased by 1,643,600 – a 9.4-percent decrease – from July 2019 to July 2020 compared to the U.S. annual loss of 11,371,000 jobs, a 7.5-percent decrease, the state said.
The number of jobs in the agriculture industry increased by 22,400 jobs from June to 335,500. The agricultural industry has lost 85,900 farm jobs since July 2019, the state reported.
The month-over decrease in California’s unemployment rate (-1.6 percentage points) was larger than that of the nation as a whole (-0.9 percentage point), the report said.
Nine of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in July.
The Employment Development Department said that among those industries, trade, transportation and utilities (+40,900) had the largest job gain due to the performance of motor vehicle and professional equipment wholesalers, as well as automobile dealers. The government sector grew by more than 36,000 jobs, thanks to the growth in state government.
The state reported the construction industry lost more than 14,800 jobs in July, largely due to weak hiring in residential construction despite hiring in non-residential construction being strong.
Unemployment claims up
The Employment Development Department said there were 3,144,098 people certifying for Unemployment Insurance benefits during the July 2020 sample week. That compares to 2,778,771 people in June 2020 and 308,212 people in July 2019.
Concurrently, 244,506 initial claims were processed in the July 2020 sample week, which was a month-over decrease of 39,794 claims from June 2020 but a year-over increase of 205,016 claims from July 2019, the Employment Development Department said.
Separately, the state reported that the Employment Development Department has disbursed more than $76.9 billion in benefit payments since March.
The agency said it has processed approximately 11.9 million in claims for Unemployment Insurance, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and benefit claims extensions over that timeframe.
The average amount of benefits paid daily by EDD over the week of Aug. 20, $724 million, was 967 percent higher than the daily average paid over the same week at the height of the Great Recession ($68 million) in 2010.
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The commission will meet via webinar beginning at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9.
The agenda is available here.
To speak on an agenda item, access the meeting remotely here or join by phone by calling 951-384-3421 or toll-free, 877-309-2071. The access code is 825-284-020; the audio pin will be shown after joining the webinar. Those phoning in without using the web link will be in “listen mode” only and will not be able to participate or comment.
Comments can be submitted by email to
Please indicate in the email subject line "for public comment" and list the item number of the agenda item that is the topic of the comment. Comments that read to the council will be subject to the three minute time limitation (approximately 350 words). Written comments that are only to be provided to the council and not read at the meeting will be distributed to the council prior to the meeting.
On Wednesday’s agenda, the commission will entertain a proposal from the Westside Community Park Commission to rename Westside Park Road to Charlie Jolin’s Way.
Jolin, who died June 29, led the effort to develop the park.
In July, the Lakeport City Council approved beginning the street renaming process, as Lake County News has reported.
It will be up to the commission to decide if the name change is in conformance with the city’s general plan and the existing street name network.
Another item of business on the commission’s agenda is an application for a use permit submitted by Precision Window Tint for automotive service at 112 Armstrong St., located in the city’s central business zoning district.
The commission also will continue its discussion, begun last month, of a project proposed by Jonathan and Doug Bridges for a 35,800 commercial self-storage facility located at 1296 and 1320 Craig Ave.
The Bridges are seeking approval of a general plan amendment, zone change, and an architectural and design review for the project.
Another project seeking a general plan amendment, along with an environmental review and zone change, is one proposed by Cory Poso, who wants to convert two high-density parcels at 1339 and 1343 Broten Court to low density residential to allow for the development of a single-family dwelling.
City documents said the two parcels together are approximately 4.8 acres.
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