Dimmer Going Dark: San Joaquin, Stanislaus Counties On Brink Of Closing
MODESTO (CBS13) — San Joaquin County Health Officer Dr. Maggie Park says the county isn't doing well in the state's key metrics for counties on the watch list.
Right now, the test positivity rate is 13.2%, way above the 8% threshold set by the state. Hospitalizations are growing roughly 19% over a 3-day average. The state requires no greater than a 10% increase. And ICU bed availability is at 25%.
With the county failing the state's criteria, CBS13 wanted to know if closures will happen and how soon.
"We are really failing on a lot of those metrics so it's hard to know at one point we are failing so badly that we will have more closures," Dr. Park said.
While Dr. Park didn't give us her threshold for shutting down again she says she's not confident in the way the numbers are going and will initiate closures ahead of the state if needed. She says scaling back to stage 1 could happen, especially with hospital cases going up.
"It is possible that we would be asked to do some further closures going back all the way," she said.
READ: Placer County Placed On State COVID-19 Monitoring List
Meantime Stanislaus County hospitalization numbers are soaring, with a 100% increase in the past 14 days. Dave Beasley feels the openings and closings aren't working and believes the state opened back up too soon
"It just seems the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result," he said.
