First COVID-19 Case in Del Norte County.

April 2, 2020

From Del Norte County Public Health:

As promised, we are informing you of our first test-proven case of COVID-19 in Del Norte County. The case is a middle aged male, who is recovering at home. All steps for isolation of the case have been implemented. We are investigating the possibility of travel as a source, but at the moment the case is still classified as unknown.

As we have indicated, this is not unexpected, as sooner or later we were bound to start having cases. We would like everyone to take note of the news, and really continue to work to maintain distance and continue all the measures that we have been promoting.

In addition, there has been a lot of news recently about the national view concerning use of masks by the public. We have maintained since the beginning of this outbreak that masks or face coverings for well persons are always an option. It seems that the expert thinking about this has changed, and there is more discussion about well persons using masks when they leave the home, or if they are around persons who are ill, and of course if they are ill themselves. We do not recommend surgical masks for general use, or N95 respirators, as the supply is very depleted statewide and across the nation. We hope to be able to make a recommendation about them in the future as the supply issue improves.

However, there is a lot of information about homemade cloth masks, and we have already asked people in the community who are good at sewing to volunteer their services. We think that it is reasonable for persons to wear masks or other face coverings when they are outside, for at least the foreseeable future.

This may become an order rather than a recommendation depending on what is decided by the state public health teams. There is news on this issue literally changing by the hour. We strongly recommend people looking into using a face covering or a cloth mask whenever possible, if they need to leave home