Cost for Sonoma County quarantine site hits $4.5 million, aiding more than 600 people

Sonoma County has paid $4.5 million for its main quarantine space at the Best Western Dry Creek hotel in Healdsburg, where over the past six months at least 644 people needing to safely isolate or recuperate from mild cases of COVID-19 have stayed in rooms for up to 10 days at a time.

The county’s alternate care site, relocated from Sonoma State University in July, is meant to isolate residents infected or presumed to be infected with COVID-19 who have no way of isolating at home.

“I think the alternate care site is absolutely key because there are people who maybe have unstable housing with nowhere to go,” said Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer. “Other’s don’t feel safe being in their homes to isolate or quarantine. I think the alternate care site is incredibly helpful for that group.”

Since August 2020, the Best Western Dry Creek has housed 91 residents who recently came into contact with people infected with the virus, 270 presumed to have the coronavirus and 283 who tested positive for COVID-19, according to data released recently by Sonoma County. Numbers fluctuate by week, but as of late January, 10 people were staying in the bank of 60 quarantine rooms.

County health officials budgeted $11.5 million for the operation, which will run through June. It includes costs related to the physical rooms, as well as security, medical staff, food, janitorial and linen services, according to county data.

For Supervisor James Gore, who represents northern Sonoma County, including Healdsburg, the cost isn’t a major concern.

“It’s not cheap, but that number doesn’t scare me,” Gore said. “We’ve opened up shelter units in the past that nobody went to. Outside of Healdsburg, the other question is what did we spend with SSU and what was the return on investment?”

Over several recent weeks, county officials have been unable to provide itemized costs for the quarantine site at SSU, which served 168 residents from April to mid July.

The overall tally of 900 people using either site to date represents just 3% of the county’s overall COVID-19 caseload, leaving community leaders to grapple with persistent questions about the low utilization rate.

At Sonoma State, the county contract included lease of a gymnasium that sat unused apart from military-style cots set up by the Army National Guard in late April. Still, Mase maintained that having that surge space, plus campus dorms that did get used for quarantine and isolation, was a good decision at the time.

She did not think the low rate of utilization of the Healdsburg hotel had impacted the county’s overall caseload, adding that residents have a choice whether to use the facilities.

“It’s upon the individual. We offer to everybody,” Mase said. “I think the convenience factor is one. People would rather stay in their own homes.”

Gore also pinpointed personal choice as a driver in the usage rates for the Healdsburg site.

“This really showcases the true disparity of this pandemic, which is that people of a certain age, with certain preexisting conditions, will get decimated by COVID,” Gore said. “On the other side, there’s a lot of people in our community who are still pretty nonchalant about it.”

Maria Mora, 35, stayed at the hotel in September, leaving her husband, Jose, and 7- and 9-year-old boys at home, but keeping her infant daughter with her.

She remembers when she got the call that she tested positive. The county staffer on the other end asked if she had time to talk, and so Mora assumed the worst. The look on her face alerted her husband, Mora said.

“That same day, I had to leave the house,” said Mora, who learned of the alternate care site through Ariel Kelley, then CEO for Latino advocacy nonprofit Corazón Healdsburg. “I had like two hours to get things settled and leave the house.”

In the van that ferries sick residents to the hotel, and well residents back home, Mora cried. She was leaving her husband, Jose, who typically works outside the home, and her two young boys, who are dealing with the challenges of remote learning and upended household routines.

“I think it was the best thing to do for the whole family,” Mora said.

Neither Mora nor her daughter experienced severe COVID-19 symptoms, although Mora remembers losing her sense of taste and smell. She’s got a ready description for the phenomenon’s effect on the taste of food.

“When you boil some pasta and just add water and eat it — no flavor at all, and no smell,” she said.

She was grateful for the time to recuperate and the aid extended to her at the quarantine site.

“I was apart from my family,” she said. “I was feeling sad because I had to be there. I didn’t know what was going to happen with my baby. These people were very supportive.”

You can Reach Staff Writer Tyler Silvy at 707-526-8667 or at tyler.silvy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @TylerSilvy