Inyo County COVID-19 cases increased 40% in just 2 weeks.
During Tuesday’s, June 30, Inyo County Board of Supervisors virtual meeting, Marilyn Mann, Director of Health and Human services, reported that the county has experienced a “spike” in confirmed COVID-19 cases over the last two weeks. There are 32 current, positive COVID-19 cases, the most recent one added just that morning on Inyo County’s COVID-19 website. Mann said that there is an increase in cases as “there is more movement in communities.”
Two weeks ago, the Inyo County Situation Update for June 15, reported 24 cases. Since then, there have been 13 more cases, with the most recent one confirmed on Tuesday morning. Mann said that the majority of cases, 20, have fallen between the ages of 19-49, which is consistent with reports coming from around the country and the state that the major increases have been coming from young adults.
According to Mann, there are no current cases in Inyo County that have been hospitalized. Those that are positive for the virus or exposed to it, or who may have been exposed, have been quarantined or self-isolated at home.
Consistent with other reports coming from the state, the county is seeing this “spike” in cases, in part, because people are not fully following the guidelines of avoiding gatherings and are engaging in some non-essential travel, despite the Governor’s Stay at Home Order still being in effect.
There has been little evidence or reports that Inyo County has been enforcing its public health orders, especially on the wearing of face coverings/masks inside businesses, although it is well-known on social media the a number of businesses are known to be flouting the health orders. Most responsible business owners appear to be at least trying to enforce it; many succeeding, while a few don’t even bother to pretend to respect the health orders.
A rare example of health enforcement action happened over the weekend in Mono County when the Public Health Officer, Dr. Tom Boo, ordered the immediate closing of the Tiger Bar in June Lake after repeated warnings, to protect the public. There have been no known similar actions, much less warnings, by Inyo County Public Health. In fact, it appears that nothing is really being done to protect the public in the enforcement area other than provide reminders along the highway and providing posters for businesses that state “Inyo County requires mandatory face-covering/mask,” which is often simply ignored by visitors and some residents as well. A few irresponsible business owners are not requiring their customers or their employees to wear masks in the workplace.
Recognizing the non-compliance issues, Mann said the county Health and Human Services Department has been looking at the issue with the county attorney regarding enforcement strategies. She noted that her department is not an enforcement agency. On the other hand, Inyo County residents might wonder how it is that Mono County just proved that it can enforce a health order, even shut down a business immediately, in the interest of public safety, while Inyo County appears to be sitting on its hands doing nothing? So far, Inyo County’s idea of a “measured response” appears to have been” no response at all.”
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Remain terrified – Question nothing – Stay home.
Is ignorance really bliss?
When supervisor Pucci talks to me he cups my hands and calls me sweetie all the time. No mind that I am a middle aged woman with a PhD, but yeah, sweetie. Ok. Sir, yes sir Mr. Man Pucci sir!
..but listen to all that freedom!
Anybody else starting to realize our government and insurance providers have done absolutely nothing but lie and deceive us lately? Self Isolation is not a treatment!
Seems the Governor and the mayor’s across California are directly responsible for this surge because they allowed unfettered protests about George Floyd and BLM happen for a month.
Inyo County officials have failed and are continuing to fail the citizens by total lack of enforcement. There needs to he some resignations. While at the Cielo Hotel, housekeeping staff were not wearing masks the morning of July 2. Thanks Charles James for great reporting.
Yes Rick – Inyo County continues to flirt with Trump’s ignorant and dangerous ambivalence about the dangers of this virus; its lack of enforcement of the mask requirement being the latest example.
But, while certainly warranted, there will be no accountability, let alone resignations.
Inyo County is governed by retrogrades.
I think our government is broken, has anyone tried turning it off and back on again yet?
Good reporting, Charles. I was amused by one supervisor asking if there was any evidence that bars were conduits for the virus’ spread. You don’t have to be a health expert to answer that question. He should have asked what can the supervisors do to help insure enforcement of the… Read more »
Art, happy to be posting your comment rather than your obituary! Be safe out there and enjoy the Fourth of July with friends and family from the Sierra Wave Media family.
…the lack of decent public education, favoritism toward particular business interests and all the rest you kind of have to wonder why locals pay taxes at all…
I found it sad that one of Inyo County’s first orders of business for the Covid emergency was threatening citizens what happens if they don’t pay their taxes. It is like they knew they were about to burn us, but before they lit the match they just had to make… Read more »
“We’re not in the situation of New Zealand or Singapore or Korea where a new case is rapidly identified, and all the contacts are traced, and people are isolated who are sick, and people who are exposed are quarantined, and they can keep things under control. We have way too… Read more »
If you are so concerned with not contracting Corona virus you should stay home like we did the first 2 or so months of the outbrake. The increase started when people felt the need to get out and about, can’t say that I blame them. Where did folks go to… Read more »
This is all about building and maintaining a high castle to Lord over the Serfs of Inyo County districts. Period. The actions of the Board are inexcusable. We all see the writing on the wall and their soul motivation is to protect their own interests just like everyone else. Diffetence… Read more »
You still think the Inyo County good ole boys or the Fed actually gives a care about you beyond spending your tax check on pointless airports for the rich and unnecessary office buildings? Haha, that is cute! Tell me more fables to help me feel better at bed time. Government… Read more »
What puzzles me is why the “40 percent increase” story was not distributed to the usual email list who have been receiving the ever-rarer updates from the County. Why post it on Facebook and call it good? It is now well recognized that Facebook is a font of malignant misinformation.… Read more »
Even one positive case has a plethora of effects. Take the staff member in Lone Pine USD who tested positive and is asymptomatic. They closed summer school and asked all of their students and families to quarantine for 14 days. That is a tremendous burden on the community. If we… Read more »
ok…the math is not adding up. 24 cases 2 weeks ago, 13 new cases would make 37 cases, but the article says 32 is the correct number. and 40% of 24 is not 13. If the correct number is 8 new cases, which would match with 24 plus 8 equaling… Read more »
The inconsistent numbers aren’t just coming from Inyo County. Inconsistent numbers are widely reported in the national press and from sources that ought to be able to get it straight. This lack of care in reliable statistics is probably partly responsible for the the lack of care shown by people… Read more »
Erik, this the response we received from Inyo County HHS: “Good afternoon Charles, Thank you for reaching out for clarification prior to responding to comments, it can be confusing with so many factors in play. To include two full weeks of data we counted from June 15th to June 29th… Read more »
Sugarmags, thanks for your comment. We copied your comment and shared it with the county. This was the response: “Good afternoon Charles, Thank you for reaching out for clarification prior to responding to comments, it can be confusing with so many factors in play. To include two full weeks of… Read more »
I have an idea. Perhaps the Inyo County Board can don masks like the Lone Ranger and handle enforcement instead of staff! They are the ones who said it was safe to open, so if it is safe, get out there gents! Support the safe opening of business like you… Read more »
Graduate, go to college, get married they said.. Have kids, invest, save for retirement they said. Pay more for mortgage and taxes until partner has to work too they said. Its OK, we have schools and daycare they said. You can’t afford to stay home and teach your kids anymore… Read more »
Give me a uniform, badge, ticket book, necessary protective equipment and the AUTHORITY to use them and I will enforce it. Some of us still care about our community enough and aren’t afraid to stand up for our kids, families, community services and community values. Typically we called them enforcement… Read more »
A 40% increase in positive tests sounds alarming, but only if you leave out the fact that testing has also increased over 44% in the last two weeks. The positive test rate in Inyo County is dropping. It’s currently at 2.6%, which is near the lowest it’s ever been since… Read more »
I don’t care about percentages – if a positive person is out infected others, that’s what is important. A percentage number isn’t going to protect me. There is no reduced risk once you have it. People keep showing all these numbers but if you get the virus, then your odds… Read more »
More “Easy Data” The number of Covid19 hospitalizations statewide has jumped 56% in in the past two weeks. And according to the CA Dept of Public Health, the positive test rate for our state is increasing, not decreasing. So unless you think we live in a bubble here in the… Read more »
This article is not a news report it’s total partisan opinion and I miss the days when journalists just reported the news instead of slandering and opining. It is not concerning for there to be more cases when NONE of these cases have been hospitalized. Please wake up and critically… Read more »
Sierra Wave will continue to publish the FACTS, INFORMATION and GUIDELINES as PROVIDED by credible public health authorities and sources. This journalist will continue to do his job.
Here is a credible public health source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm If you take the time to look at the chart you will see that last week there were 19,899 deaths in the United States from all causes. Only 313 of those deaths involved Covid-19. That is a death rate of .01% You… Read more »
Matthew – you neglected to take the time to read the fine print in the “Notes” section associated with the chart and “the week ending” info. See the * … “NOTE: Number of deaths reported in this table are the total number of deaths received and coded as of the… Read more »
Hospitalization is only one concerning aspect of this pandemic. My critical thinking skills tell me YOU have been asleep for the past six months…
The Inyo County Board is like a lineup for an old spice commercial. More old white guys doing old white guy stuff than the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Surprised they aren’t wearing those funny wigs and signing things with fountain pens.. I would say Jen R. would be… Read more »
WRONG…it doesn’t matter how many are hospitalized. It matters how many are infected because they go on to infect others. Those that are sick at home go on to make others sick and so on and so on and people will end up hospitalized at some point.
Not concerning? Well I hope you’re right. Similar “critical thinking” was employed by the Orange County Board of Supervisors a few weeks back. Political pressure and even death threats prompted the county health officer to resign. The newly installed health officer capitulated and rolled back precautions to appease the highly… Read more »
We are criticially thinking for ourselves. And the critical thought is that 125,000 people are dead because people like yourself are not critically thinking.
The county board and at least some of the administration/elected officers just burned it’s constituents and are now hiding away, safe, getting paid, making everyone else go take their risks for them to make money, pay taxes and make sure they get a check while hiding in a bunker. They… Read more »
Can’t the PD or Sheriff simply walk into one of these offending establishments and cite them for violating the public health orders? Why isn’t that happening? But I expect the devil is in the details. Speaking of which, which businesses are you referring to Charles, because I haven’t heard of… Read more »
I don’t frequent bars. And I don’t know of any that have been mentioned in local social media here in Inyo County, although “bar hopping” might prove an enlightening or unsobering investigative technique…if you can remember what you heard! Several other types of businesses have been mentioned in local social… Read more »
aahhhh yes remember Americans are not trying to stop the the spread because we cant. but to only slow the spread IN WAVES. waves keep coming they dont ever stop ever. so if your young or healthy and you get covid 19 recovery with antibodies is the best bet. OUR… Read more »
Watching the reemergence of this virus both locally and nationally makes me wonder – How obvious does it have to be for people to take this seriously? That said, a big THANK YOU to all those people and businesses out there who are actually making an effort to help slow… Read more »
Many great points in this post.
Many errors/typos in this post.
Looks like the word flaunt was used when the author meant to use the word flout.
Thanks for comments, Scott. Errors happen when you are writing up a story at 1am in the morning! And, not only did our proof-reader not get a chance to read it, we don’t have a proof-reader! Yikes! Go figure! Being responsible for your own words! What’s the world coming to?… Read more »
Any Bishop locals who still refuse to wear a mask (for whatever irrational reasons) are putting all our local businesses at risk of being closed again. Let alone endangering the health of essential workers and our large vulnerable retired population. If the health concerns of others don’t concern you then… Read more »
Of course there’s no enforcement by the authorities.
It’s all about the Benjamins!
Sadly.
Exactly! Money over Lives. That’s the Government way.
Relying on individuals to do the right thing pretty obviously does not work. Whenever I go to Smart & Final, everyone is wearing masks, probably because they have added a security guard on the door. Security. In Bishop. At a grocery store. Because there are apparently enough people who prefer… Read more »
Thank goodness our reps opened all campgrounds and facilities for vacationers and fishermen. This is turning out good isnt it?
Without the State or local law enforcement being willing to enforce the previously existing stay-at-home orders (our Governor was clear he wanted people to choose to be responsible, not have law enforcement punish them for being selfish), travelers were coming anyway, trashing the dispersed camping areas, and doing what was… Read more »
But they continue to trash the lands even with the campgrounds open. Now what…
I’ve been surprised by the number of non-local hikers on the trails wearing masks and taking evasive action with other hikers, even in situations where it probably isn’t really necessary. I’m glad to see so many visitors obviously being careful and courteous, even though distancing is generally pretty easy in… Read more »
Is it just me or does it seem like unless you are over 50 you don’t have representation or matter in Inyo County (or the United States for that matter)? Literally not a peep about schools from our government leadership while parents are still forced to work full time and… Read more »
Its just you.
Tell that to my graduate friends trying start college. The adults in the community only care about who is right and fighting with each other.
dpBlue are you kidding me?! My mom has been working for years to save up for my education sometimes multiple jobs and no matter how hard we both worked it just isn’t enough. No matter what people just hold her down and now me too. Enough. Now all this and… Read more »
..or my little sister who just spent her most formative years doing worksheets while my mom worked remotely.
I know right? Unbelievable.
What is Dr. Richardson doing? I see all these efforts in Mono County by Dr Boo but nothing from Inyo county public health officials. Please shut down the casino and the campgrounds, Schats bakery and other high traffic areas. I can’t believe the number of travelers in Bishop and all… Read more »
Yes ma’am! We dined and stayed the night in Bishop Wednesday and stopped in at Schats Bakkery in the morning. People were crammed in there like cattle, zero air movement, terrible ventilation, a full scale petri dish. The owner or manager(?), a guy who clearly had way too many shares… Read more »