Sacramento County on Monday announced a major change in the approach to dealing with COVID-19, otherwise known as novel coronavirus. County officials will shift their efforts from containment to "community mitigation."
The change is reportedly meant to protect the most vulnerable residents in the county from severe illness, and allow the regional health care system to get resources ready to take care of severely ill patients. As a part of the new plan, there will no longer be 14-day quarantines.
According to the county, there no need for you quarantine for 14 days if you've in contact with someone who is confirmed to have novel coronavirus. That rule applies to the general public, as well as health care workers, and first responders. However, for anyone who's sick and has symptoms like a persistent cough, they should stay home to avoid spreading the virus to other people.
People who have the symptoms of novel coronavirus should only call 911 or go to a hospital emergency room if they're extremely sick or think their life is at risk, said county officials. For anyone who thinks they need to medical help, they shouldn't just show up at their healthcare provider's office or an urgent care center. Call ahead, so preparations can be made to care you and protect others.
Sacramento County is recommending that businesses consider implementing telecommuting and teleconferencing for employees, where appropriate and feasible. As for schools, administrators are asked to stay in close contact with their local health department and the County Office of Education to figure out how to respond.
Given reports that some people have been hoarding supplies of items like facemasks, county officials recommend only people who are actually sick wear the masks. Healthy people don't need them, since they don't prevent the virus from being inhaled or stop it from making contact with your face.
There are currently 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Sacramento County with one person listed as recovered, including an elementary school-aged student in Elk Grove, whose test came back positive today.