CoViD-19: County Health Shuts Down El Prez | Sheriffs Step Up Enforcement | Contract Tracing Explained

San Diego Zoo Safari Park  5.27.2019

I gotta tell you guys...the County press briefing felt like when the whole class has to miss recess because some idiot caused a disturbance during class and the teacher is not.having.it.one.second.longer. Also, Nathan Fletcher (yeah, I've started calling him Fletch, what of it??) had no qualms about calling out El Prez by name as willfully violating the County Health Order. So basically if you don't want to read all the fine print on this one, the overall point was that law enforcement in all jurisdictions will be stepping up over the Memorial Day Weekend to make sure people and businesses are following the County and State Health Orders. They'd were still pretty soft about encouraging compliance but will use interventions if necessary. More after the jump.

• Health Order enforcement will be stepped up. It is REQUIRED that you physically distance from non-household members, wear a facial covering (except if actually eating), wash hands, and stay home if you've experienced symptoms.
• After pictures of El Prez full of people circulated on social media, the County Health Department shut them down. "Can't be in a position where a few bad actors ruin the progress for an entire region...we saw blatant disregard for the public health orders and blatant noncompliance." Fletch called out El Prez by name.  
• All current beach orders remain in effect. You may not sit, sunbathe, or otherwise be stationary on beaches within all of San Diego County. 
• Health Order Enforcement:
• Undersheriff Mike Barnett:
• Disappointed to see large crowds at bars
• If reopening is not successful, we'll have a setback
• Being in enclosed spaces, not at proper distance, puts everyone at risk
• 137 citations .01% of population; 1 million people under Sheriff jurisdiction 
• Deputies have discretion on enforcement. They will try to educate but will issue citations or take notes for warrants when necessary.
• Bottom line: orders exist for a reason, they apply to everyone, and must be followed. 
• 75 active outbreaks: congregate settings 52;2 new; 1454 cases; 120 deaths. Community settings 23 active outbreaks, 301 cases, 5 deaths
• Least heavy handed, but that protects the public 
• Report non-compliance complaints to non-emergency police/sheriff or 211
• Violating of dine-in eating issued only to El Prez
• We can't respond to things that we don't know about; we expect that the overwhelming majority of businesses will do the right thing
• Dr. McDonald - Contact tracing
• When positive test is confirmed, patient or doctor should immediately start identifying the contacts so they're aware by the time public health reaches out
• When a case is confirmed, the contact tracers identify all close contacts within 24 hours
• Tracer speaks to each contact within 24 hours
• Tracer offers support and makes sure the contact can be isolated for quarantine
• No take-out restaurant cases have resulted in a community outbreak, though there could be isolated patients
• We have triggers in epidemiology, hospital surveillance, etc that could require us to roll back openings if any of them no longer meet the state metrics for self-attesting.