Questions Remain After Yolo County's First Coronavirus Case
YOLO COUNTY (CBS13) — There are still a lot of questions about Yolo County's first coronavirus case where the agency identified the patient as an older woman with underlying conditions when she was actually a healthy athlete in her 50s.
CBS13 investigative reporter Julie Watts asked the Yolo County Board of Supervisors why the county didn't immediately issue a public correction to clarify the risk for healthy adults during their virtual meeting Tuesday.
That's the question many are asking after Yolo County repeatedly claimed their first coronavirus case was… "an older female with underlying health conditions." Which, as supervisor Jim Provenza pointed out at today's board meeting, "sounds [to] most people like someone sitting in a nursing home."
When in fact, Marilyn Stebbins is a long-distance runner, a skier, and the picture of health before the dubious distinction as Yolo's first COVID-19 case.
"I really felt like people needed to know that anybody could get this," Stebbins said.
At the time, in early March, most still believed coronavirus primarily affected the elderly and immunocompromised. So Stebbins, a pharmacist, asked Yolo County to issue a correction. A month and a half later, they have now finally acknowledged the mistake, but only after she took her story public.
"It showed that our system has pitfalls that we need to fix," she said.
The county issued a press release this weekend responding to her story, and after Tuesday's board meeting, CBS13 got to speak with the Yolo County Health Director, Dr. Ron Chapman.
"What do you say to folks who say it's difficult to trust an agency who waited a month and a half to issue such a significant correction?" CBS13 investigative reporter Julie Watts asked.
"I would say, we are in an unprecedented, extraordinary times, we're doing the best job that we can do," Chapman said.
Chapman apologized, explaining they initially reported what they were told by the hospital, but failed to correct the mistake because they were overwhelmed.
Stebbins also raised concerns about a nail salon worker she had contact with the days before she was diagnosed with coronavirus. The county says guidelines didn't require they reach out to her, but there are no known cases linked to Marilyn,
But at a time when public trust in health officials is critical, we asked the public health director if he thinks the public's trust in his agency has been impacted by this.
"I hope not," he said.
As of Tuesday morning, the original press release had been edited, to remove the words "older female with underlying health conditions" but there was no reference to the original mistake. After CBS13 raised the issue, the agency says it will now add an official correction.
