Sonoma County’s New Ban on Large Events & Voluntary Stay-At-Home Order Thru Feb. 11

By Olivia Wynkoop, Bay City News Foundation

In response to the increasing transmission of COVID-19 throughout the county, Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase on Monday issued an appeal for community members to stay at home voluntarily for the next month.

Mase recommends residents to only leave their house for necessary trips like work or school and grocery shopping. Mase also issued an order to cancel large gatherings of 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors in the county. This prohibition will take effect on Wednesday until Feb. 11.

According to county data, half of Sonoma County’s cases emerge from large events. Mase hopes this order will reduce the chances of people catching COVID-19 at events. “Our case rates are at their highest level since the pandemic began and our hospitalizations are climbing at an alarming rate as well,” Mase said in a statement. “We are seeing widespread transmission occurring within unvaccinated groups as well as some transmission among vaccinated individuals.”

The county’s positive testing rate reached an all-time high of 16.5 percent this week, and case rates rose from 24.4 per 100,000 residents per day to more than 121 per 100,000 residents per day in the past two weeks.

“We know what we need to do to prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed,” Mase said in a statement. “The next 30 days will be key to helping us stop this rapid spread of this highly contagious variant in our community. We need to get vaccinated and boosted, wear high-quality masks, avoid large gatherings and stay home as much as possible.”

More information on the county’s health order and appeal can be found at www.SoCoEmergency.org

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