Orange County could exit coronavirus watch list on Saturday, which would start countdown for in-person schooling - OCRegister

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Orange County is in the running to be removed from the state watch list for coronavirus-distressed counties, which, if downward trends continue, would happen Saturday, Aug. 22.

That would start a 14-day countdown until Orange County schools could be cleared to resume in-person teaching by the second week of September. If the local school boards make that call, their K-12 students could be back in classrooms after Labor Day.

“If all goes well, and I am very optimistic that all will go well, Sept. 6 will be Day 15,” said Dr. Clayton Chau, Orange County’s Health Care Agency director and acting health officer.

But it could be little else about mid-pandemic life would change right away in Orange County, Chau said, because businesses and residents might still be bound by the state’s July 13 health order, which scaled back some earlier easing of lockdown measures.

“I wish I could tell you (which sectors) the guidelines the governor is going to issue next week would speak to,” Chau said during a press conference Thursday, adding local health officials will be in talks with the state sometime in the next few days ahead of the expected announcement by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

But despite signs of diminishing rates of new cases and positive tests shares – two watch list metrics that signaled most how Orange County was in trouble during the July surge – Chau said this is no time to relax.

Again, he stressed physical distancing, face coverings and frequent hand-washing.

Because of the danger of being added back on the state watch list as quickly as the county could be taken off, Chau said he would recommend the county reopen in “phases.”

“We all have learned that the earlier reopening during First Stage, Second Stage, brought about (coronavirus) transmission, so I think we have learned from that lesson,” Chau said. “Personally, I think the next reopening phase should be a phase-in approach. We’re going to have to decide which business sectors to bring back and reopen first.”

Wednesday was Orange County’s first day falling below all six state pandemic thresholds, which are monitored daily by county and state public health officials to gauge the coronavirus’s spread, testing levels and impact on hospitals. The county first made the watch list on June 29.

The state wants counties’ rates of new cases at or below 100 cases per 100,000 residents, which Orange County hit on Wednesday, dipping further by Thursday to 96.6 cases per 100,000, according to the Health Care Agency.

State officials recently reactivated the monitoring list after it was frozen because testing data glitches had, for weeks, thrown the important metrics sharply out of focus. San Diego and Placer counties were dropped from the list this week, leaving 40 counties of the state’s 58 still trying to get their numbers under the thresholds.

Chau said one lesson learned while Orange County has been on the watch list has been the true importance of masks, physical distancing and hand-washing, but also staying home when sick and not going out unless necessary.

“I don’t think it’s too much to ask for adults to do this. We have to do this together,” he said. “We have to create a safe environment for our children to come back to school.”

“I think that if our community puts together an effort to do this, we can beat it, we can reopen safely, because it’s happening in other countries – it’s happening in other jurisdictions.”

County leaders on Thursday announced a “Positive Vibes” campaign to spotlight “positivity” and hygienic practices to combat COVID-19.

The campaign will kick off Monday, said Michelle Steel, chairwoman of the county Board of Supervisors.

“We want people to feel good about doing their part to stop the spread of the virus,” she said. “This campaign is a big part of ensuring that we can beat COVID-19.”

Steel said county workers will give out 45,000 face masks based on designs by local artist Melissa Murphy.

Other campaign agents will include mask-bro comedians “Chad” and “JT,” who recently went viral with their videos trying to hand out masks, pro surfers Peter and Tosh Townend and Courtney Conlogue, and Wahoo’s Fish Tacos founders Wing Lam and Ed Lee.

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Orange County could exit coronavirus watch list on Saturday, which would start countdown for in-person schooling - OCRegister
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