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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace confirmed to Lake County News that the inmate is Lake County’s eighth COVID-19 case.
Sheriff Brian Martin said his agency got the inmate’s test results on Monday morning.
Lt. Corey Paulich said the specimen that identified the infected inmate was collected on Tuesday, April 19.
Paulich said the inmate is not displaying any symptoms of illness. When the positive test result was received the inmate was placed in isolation to avoid spreading the virus.
The sheriff’s office would not provide further information, citing medical privacy laws.
That includes not releasing information in response to questions from Lake County News about how long the inmate has been in custody and whether that individual came in sick or was infected while in the jail.
Paulich said the sheriff’s office is working with Public Health to determine the source of the infection.
One of Lake County’s previous seven confirmed COVID-19 cases was in a former state prison inmate released back to the county early in April, as Lake County News has reported.
Paulich said the test of the COVID-19 positive inmate was part of a 100-test survey conducted in the jail to determine if the virus could be detected in the inmate population or sheriff’s office staff.
He said all participants were asymptomatic so lab testing was not prioritized, causing the delay in receiving the results.
As of Monday, Paulich said the results of 91 tests have been received and this is the only positive case. Four test results are still pending.
Paulich said the sheriff's office has identified all inmates and staff who may have come into close contact with this inmate.
Following the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in consultation with the Lake County Public Health officer, 17 inmates who had direct contact with the infected inmate are currently in medical isolation, Paulich said.
On March 12, the sheriff's office instituted enhanced measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the jail.
Those measures include suspending jail programs and visitation, screening all staff prior to entry to the facility, placing inmates who are in custody for minor offenses on home detention, enhanced medical screening at booking, wearing of face masks by staff, designating bed spaces for isolation and quarantine, among others, Paulich said.
Paulich said the jail continues to undergo comprehensive regular cleaning and disinfecting.
Due to Judicial Council of California rules issued in April that put in place a no-bail rule statewide for misdemeanors and lower-level felonies during the COVID-19 pandemic – which it said was meant to “safely reduce jail populations” – the jail census has dropped.
The jail is licensed for 286 inmates and currently has about 172 inmates, which Paulich said changes daily.
Paulich said the sheriff’s office has implemented safeguards to improve the health and well-being of inmates and employees.
Officials are providing comprehensive education to the jail population and staff on how to reduce chances of exposure and infection, he said.
“We have implemented social distancing, virtual meetings, working from home, as well as paused non-essential meetings, travel and training. We have hand sanitizers, cleaning wipes, face masks and disposable gloves readily available to employees,” Paulich said.
“This is a developing situation and we will provide updates as information becomes available,” Paulich said.
To learn more about all the steps being taken to keep everyone in custody safe and healthy, visit www.lakesheriff.com and explore the Coronavirus2019 response plan at http://www.lakesheriff.com/Assets/Sheriff+Site/coronavirus.pd .
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – When the governor of California issued the statewide shelter in place order in mid-March, and nearly all of the state’s public schools dismissed their students for the remainder of the school year, child care providers were placed in a difficult situation.
Considered essential businesses, they were allowed to remain open as long as they followed social distancing precautions and increased cleaning procedures.
The concern was that essential workers in other industries would still need care for their children in order to continue their jobs to support this health crisis.
But it hasn’t been easy for Lake County’s early learning teachers, providers and staff.
Many local facilities watched their enrollment dwindle as working parents lost jobs or were furloughed, and no longer had the need or finances to send their children to child care.
Some parents kept their children at home because they were concerned that their child would contract the virus in a group setting.
More stringent cleaning protocols required implementation, yet owners encountered difficulties in getting basic goods to run their businesses, such as cleaning products and food.
Many facilities had to close.
Carla Ritz, executive director of First 5 Lake, explains, “When COVID-19 social distancing precautions were ordered, 30 out of 31 child care centers in the county closed their doors along with 21 out of 70 licensed family child care homes.”
Support was available in Lake County through a partnership of local agencies dedicated to increasing the quality of child care providers in Lake County.
The Lake County Child Care Planning Council, or LPC, a consortium of agencies and nonprofits, works to build partnerships with individuals and organizations in our community to help meet the child care needs of our communities.
Angela Cuellar-Marroquin of the Lake County Office of Education is the coordinator of the LPC. “We truly are all in this together. Multiple local agencies are working hand-in-hand together during this health crisis.”
Carla Ritz, executive director of First 5 Lake, explained, “First 5 California invests in California's child care system by funding the IMPACT (Improve and Maximize Programs so All Children Thrive) approach to quality improvement throughout the state.”
Ritz added, “In Lake County, First 5 Lake has served as the lead agency overseeing the use of the $853,110 in IMPACT funding that has been invested in Lake County over the past five years, and Lake County Office of Education staff have implemented the program.”
The Lake County Office of Education typically uses IMPACT dollars to fund Quality Rating and Improvement System, otherwise known as QRIS, also headed by Cuellar-Marroquin.
But during this health crisis, QRIS was allowed to repurpose their IMPACT grant funding. This includes incentive stipends for providers remaining open to serve essential workers, materials for programs that are serving new age groups, and materials for sites to distribute to parents to use with children while sheltering in place.
“I think some of the most heart-warming things I’ve seen in this pandemic are those providers who have had to close, yet they are still taking care of their students from a distance,” said Cuellar-Marroquin. “The providers might be closed, yet every week, and sometimes every day, they are on Zoom with their children, or doing circle times via Facebook Live. I’ve even had providers who are closed reaching out to us for take-home materials, because they know their students at home are in need of supplies to keep on track with their early childhood learning.”
The reality though is that providers are still grappling with getting the basic supplies they need to follow protocols.
"Providers in Lake County have been diligent in following all Community Care Licensing rules and regulations related to social distancing and cleaning procedures to best protect the children and themselves. They are finding it difficult to secure cleaning materials, sometimes specific food items and other essential items for their operations," said Jamie Castaldo, resource & referral manager, Rural Communities Child Care, A program of North Coast Opportunities.
Ritz says, “Help is on the way!”
She explains that recently, the First 5 California Commission held an emergency meeting and authorized funding to contract with www.SupplyBank.org to provide relief to providers in need of essential supplies for babies and young children, such as diapers, wipes and gloves, in addition to much-needed sanitation items.
Lake County is expecting multiple shipments from SupplyBank over the next 60 days to meet that need locally.
Quality child care is now becoming an important issue in the reopening of the economy.
In Gov. Newsom’s April 28, 2020 press conference, he said, “Child care is foundational to getting people back to work. If they cannot get the kind of quality child care that they deserve they are less likely to get back to work and jump-start this economy."
Brock Falkenberg, Lake County superintendent of schools and a commissioner on the First 5 Lake Board said, “We know that quality child care is more important than ever now, and organizations such as First 5 Lake, North Coast Opportunities, and the Lake County Office of Education will continue committing time and energy towards helping our parents get back to work, by making quality child care available here in Lake County.”
There are open local child care slots available. Lake County families seeking child care can call the referral message line at North Coast Opportunities at 707-467-3211. Calls are returned within 24 hours.
For families who need financial assistance to help pay for child care, there are a limited number of subsidized child care slots available for essential workers. To find out if you qualify, visit ncoinc.org and complete the waitlist application.
For child care providers interested in becoming a part of QRIS, please contact Angela Cuellar at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The board will meet virtually beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 5, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting can be watched live on Channel 8 and online at https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx . Accompanying board documents, the agenda and archived board meeting videos also are available at that link.
Because the meeting will be held virtually, members of the public are asked to submit comments on items to
At 9:01 a.m., Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace will present his weekly update on the COVID-19 situation.
At 10 a.m., the board will discuss and consider the next steps for COVID-19 local control.
In a memo on the item, Supervisor Bruno Sabatier is suggesting adding more jurisdictions to a letter submitted on April 21 from the board to the governor that requested local control in reopening the economy while following public health benchmarks.
“This agenda item provides us with the ability to discuss what our next move is with our previous letter and future correspondence as we try to find ways to move forward and loosen the restrictions that are currently in place and obtain local control where we can make the best decisions for us rather than a one size fits all 4 phase action plan that covers all of the state of California,” Sabatier wrote.
In untimed COVID-19-related items, the board will consider a letter to state leaders advocating for county funding needs due to disaster response and lost revenue, a continued discussion of a proposed urgency ordinance that would require members of the public to wear masks at public facilities, and staff reports on disaster response expenses and revenue concerns for the future due to the pandemic.
At 11 a.m., the board will host a discussion, at the request of Supervisor EJ Crandell, regarding AB 626, a law to allow microenterprise home kitchen operations.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Approve leave of absence from 4/13/2020 to 6/12/2020 for Department of Social Services employee David Perata and authorize the chair to sign.
5.2: (a) Waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) approve the agreement between the county of Lake and Adventist Health St. Helena and Adventist Health Vallejo for the fiscal year 2019-20 for a contract maximum of $150,000 and authorize the board chair to sign the agreement for psychiatric inpatient hospital services and professional services associated with acute inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations to clients referred by Lake County Behavioral Health Services.
5.3: Approve corrected late travel claim for crisis supervisor in the amount of $763.63 and authorize the auditor-controller to process payment.
5.4: Adopt proclamation designating the month of May 2020 as Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month in Lake County.
5.5: Adopt proclamation designating the week of May 3-9, 2020 as Law Enforcement Officers Week.
TIMED ITEMS
6.1, 9:01 a.m.: Consideration of update on COVID-19.
6.2, 10 a.m.: Discussion and consideration of next steps for COVID-19 local control.
6.4, 10:35 a.m.: (a) Presentation of proclamation designating the week of May 3-9, 2020, as Law Enforcement Officers Week; and (b) presentation of proclamation designating the month of May 2020 as Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month in Lake County.
6.5, 11 a.m.: Discussion and consideration of AB 626, Eduardo Garcia. California Retail Food Code: microenterprise home kitchen operations.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of Letters to Gov. Newsom, to Sen. McGuire and to Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry to advocate for our funding needs for disaster response and revenue loss resulting from the COVID-19 crisis.
7.3: Consideration of an Ordinance Amending Chapter 21, Article 27 of the Lake County Code pertaining to commercial cannabis cultivation.
7.4: Continued from April 28: Consideration of an urgency ordinance establishing temporary safety protocols upon the reopening of county facilities to the public during the ongoing COVID-19 state of emergency.
7.5: Consideration of staff reports on (a) COVID-19 disaster response expenses to date and (b) revenue and expense concerns for the future, resulting from coronavirus pandemic impacts.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The meeting will take place via webinar beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 5.
To speak on an agenda item, access the meeting remotely here or join by phone by calling 415-930-5229 or toll-free, 877-309-2074. The access code is 620-529-293; 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 Tuesday, the council is scheduled to get a presentation from Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace on the current progress in containing the COVID-19 outbreak in Lake County. Pace had been set to speak to the council at its last meeting in April but had a time conflict.
In council business, City Manager Margaret Silveira is asking the council to review the application for the July 18 Rhythm & Brews event and other similar events using public areas in light of shelter in place orders.
“Staff is seeking direction in processing and scheduling events using public areas in Lakeport in the upcoming months. Since March 18, Shelter-in-Place orders have been instituted in Lake County to help stop the spread of COVID-19. It is likely that some type of order will continue through the summer months, making it difficult to respond to public requests for events and the subsequent street closures,” Silveira wrote in her report to the council.
Options for the council to consider include denying the Rhythm & Brews event, approving it with staff recommendations, or directing staff to cancel all events scheduled for May through September.
In other business, the council will consider the proposed resolution adopting the Eleventh Street Corridor Multimodal Engineered Feasibility Study and make a recommendation that the Lake Area Planning Council also adopt the proposed Study.
Staff also will ask the council to proceed with the preparation of a Community Development Block Grant application for $70,681 in aid through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act.
On the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the regular council meeting on April 21 and the special council meeting on April 24; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the Mendocino Complex fire; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the February 2019 storms; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the October 2019 public safety power shutoff; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the COVID-19 public health emergency; and receipt and filing of the draft minutes of the regular meeting on April 22 of the Measure Z Advisory Committee.
Email Elizabeth Larson at