Sonoma County releases coronavirus case data by ZIP code

Nearly 1 in 6 active COVID-19 cases in Sonoma County are occurring in a ZIP code that includes southwest Santa Rosa and areas east of Sebastopol and north of Rohnert Park, according to new data released Friday.

Local officials Friday offered the public its closest look to date at the spread of the coronavirus across the county, publishing data showing active COVID-19 cases over a 21-day period and total confirmed diagnoses by ZIP code.

The figures show 328 of Sonoma County’s 2,023 active cases over the past three weeks have been in ZIP code 95407, where there have been 698 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. The area, which includes the heavily Latino Roseland community, ranks highest in active cases, total cases and active case rate per 100,000 people in the county.

The data underscores the disproportionate impact the pandemic is having on Latinos, who make up about a quarter of the county’s population but a little over half of its cases.

ZIP codes covering Cloverdale, Healdsburg and Forestville also have relatively high case rates, according to the new data. Meanwhile, the ZIP codes covering almost all of the Sonoma Coast reflected the near absence of the coronavirus from Bodega Bay to Jenner, though the Sea Ranch ZIP code in the county’s northwest corner reflected at least one and fewer than 11 cases.

Other areas may not have a high number of confirmed cases but still registered high case rates due to lower population numbers. Sparsely populated 95439, between north Santa Rosa and Windsor, has fewer than 11 cases but ranks second among all county ZIP codes for active case rate.

The release of the ZIP code data follows a record high of 144 new active cases reported Thursday night.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said California was “turning a corner” in the statewide coronavirus fight, but Sonoma County’s health officer, Dr. Sundari Mase, is not seeing the same trend locally.

“Here in Sonoma County, I still think that we’re having a lot of COVID cases,” Mase said Friday afternoon. “I would not describe us necessarily right now as turning a corner. I think this is a crucial time for people to still follow the health officer orders.”

The increase in local cases over the past three weeks may be due in part to a state computer glitch that affected case counts across California, but it’s also likely due to the increased spread of COVID-19 in Sonoma County, Mase said.

“Sonoma hasn’t really been that impacted by the state’s delay in reporting,” she said. “We did not see a big decrease in cases over the past three weeks. If anything, we saw an increase in actual number of cases even three weeks ago.”

The county has not reported a COVID-19 death since Tuesday, leaving the local toll at 51 of the 168,000 deaths in the U.S. and 761,000 worldwide.

The heat advisory effective Friday is a precursor to an expected week or more of hot weather in Sonoma County, the result of an unusually humid heat wave that’s parked itself on top of California.

The deputy health officer, Dr. Kismet Baldwin, said the county and cities will discuss opening cooling centers during the heat wave, although the options are limited due to the pandemic and restrictions on socializing. More information about the cooling centers should be released next week, she said.

“Places like libraries and malls are not open right now, so those aren’t going to be places that people can go to cool down,” Baldwin said. “If there are cooling centers that are open, we again want to stress: We don’t want overcrowding in the cooling centers.”

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