Sonoma County defends COVID-19 positive test metric, readies new $4 million strategy

As Sonoma County officials on Friday readied a new $4 million plan for an “enhanced” strategy to contain COVID-19, they sought to clarify and defend new methods they are using to track cases.

Officials’ answers to residents’ questions in a public briefing Wednesday raised concerns in the community that a recent shift to focus on tests conducted rather than cases was making the spread of the coronavirus look worse in Sonoma County. The region continues to lag the rest of the Bay Area in qualifying for loosened restrictions on public activity.

Some had worried that an individual who tested positive for COVID-19 more than once would count as multiple cases, holding the county back in its efforts to reopen more types of businesses.

But county health program manager Kate Pack said the county’s decision to change its positive-test methodology, a move made about a month ago, actually improved the county’s chances of being classified in a less restrictive tier than the “purple” level of widespread transmission, where Sonoma County currently sits.

The 5% local positivity rate is at the low end of the “red” tier, but the county remains at the purple level due to its relatively high level of new daily cases — a metric that’s calculated based on patients, as opposed to test results.

“It is true that multiple positives could show up,” Pack said, underscoring that the new methodology brings Sonoma County in line with the rest of the state, where restrictions have broadly eased.

“It’s a more accurate picture of how many tests we’re actually conducting in our county,” Pack said. “The methodology that we’ve been using before wasn’t really giving us full credit for all the testing that we were doing in the county.

“By using this methodology, we are not holding ourselves back from moving forward,” Pack said.

County officials could not immediately say how many people had tested positive more than once but noted that health guidance called for people who test positive to isolate themselves and not seek out a second test unless they have a sound medical reason to believe their first result was a false positive.

Also Friday, county officials outlined an upcoming new plan for addressing COVID-19 that county supervisors will consider Tuesday. The plan is expected to include incentives for people living in economically disadvantaged areas to get tested, financial aid for people with COVID-19 and increased pop-up testing, said Deputy Public Health Officer Kismet Baldwin, adding that more specificity about costs should be available early next week.

“We would like to provide some assistance for people to be able to isolate and quarantine and stay home and not go to work and not be in the community,” Baldwin said. “And hopefully not have to worry about getting paid and not being able to pay bills.”

County staff will look to the Board of Supervisors for direction on the plan and could also receive instructions to put more emphasis on enforcement of COVID-19 violations — a move that Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase said she favored.

“We do need to beef up enforcement,” Mase said.

Local agencies have the power to issue citations to individuals and businesses who flout COVID-19 restrictions, but very few citations have been issued as officials have said their focus has been on teaching community members about what is allowed and what is not.

County officials revealed one additional death Friday, a male residential care facility occupant older than 64 who died Tuesday. The man’s death brings the county’s toll to at least 129, with 1,665 active cases, 6,891 confirmed recoveries and 8,684 total cases reported as of Thursday.

And Mase has forwarded two more applications by Sonoma County schools seeking to resume in-person classes on campus to state officials for ratification.

Sonoma Country Day School in Santa Rosa and the Healdsburg School join The Presentation School in Sonoma in having their applications forwarded to the state Department of Public Health for final review, said Adam Radtke, deputy county counsel.

The Presentation School’s application has been approved by the state, according to the county. As of Friday, 11 schools’ applications were pending, another's had been denied, and one had been withdrawn.

Next week, in addition to the Board of Supervisors hearing on new COVID-19 strategies, the county will move a COVID-19 testing facility from Petaluma to Windsor.

County officials had seen a decrease in testing activity at the Petaluma site, Mase said, noting that state officials will notify local jurisdictions if a site’s usage drops below 75% capacity.

“We knew that the northern part of the county wasn’t maybe having as much access to testing,” Mase said, “and thought that Windsor would be a good place for us to move the testing site to try to boost that testing and offer an opportunity for residents in another part of our county.”

The new site, which is funded by the state, will be located at the Town of Windsor Bluebird Community Center at 25 Bluebird Drive.

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @wsreports.