Sonoma County supervisors to discuss pandemic health order during special public meeting Wednesday

A week into Sonoma County’s latest health order banning large gatherings, the Board of Supervisors is set to hold a public meeting Wednesday to discuss the restrictions, the supporting data and the process for issuing future health orders.

Local hospital leaders and Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools Steve Herrington will join the special online meeting — held outside of the board’s regular Tuesday schedule — in addition to county public health officials, led by Dr. Sundari Mase, the county health officer.

“I want to hear the ground-truth form the school leaders and hospital leaders on the impacts of this surge on the most vital institutions,” said board Chair James Gore.

The ban on large indoor and outdoor gatherings for 30 days took effect on Jan. 12, prompting outcry from impacted hospitality and event businesses, whose representatives said they were not consulted about the order.

School district leaders and parents with children in extracurricular activities, including sports and performing arts, also have asked for greater leeway to accommodate those events.

“It’s not like we haven’t heard this before, but it’s been awhile, I think everybody thought we were going in a different direction,” Supervisor Chris Coursey said.

Gore, Coursey and Supervisor David Rabbitt all have said the county could have better communicated with affected businesses and community groups about the health order.

Gore, in his third week as chairman for this year, said he is supportive of the latest order but does not think the county should issue such restrictions without holding a public meeting.

Pandemic health orders, including last week’s, fall under the purview of Mase, an infectious disease expert. Mase and her staff have sought to stress the importance of increased caution at this time in the 22-month-old pandemic, when the omicron variant has driven new COVID-19 cases to record levels.

On Tuesday, the official number of active COVID-19 cases in the county was 18,415 — a tenfold increase since Christmas and four times the number of active infections during the peak of last year’s winter deadly surge.

Business leaders, however, have slammed the county’s latest order as an overreach.

On Tuesday, Santa Rosa Metro Chamber CEO Peter Rumble doubled down on his criticism and call for a more “nuanced” order that focuses on those who are at highest risk — the unvaccinated and those with compromised health.

“We have alarming numbers of positive cases but that means something that is quite different from before,” he told The Press Democrat. “We’re in a completely different ballgame right.”

The county has put forward consistent data in recent weeks showing COVID-19 cases continue to stem from gatherings. The new health order limited events to no more than 50 people inside and no more than 100 outside where social distancing is not possible.

Mase last week acknowledged she like everyone else, was “tired” of the pandemic. “We all want to be past it and get back to life,” she said. “But we’re not there yet, and all indications are that this is likely to get worse before it gets better.”

Gore added that Wednesday’s meeting will review the process for communicating with departments like the Economic Development Board, and key community groups, about health order decisions.

“Now with this surge going on it’s absolutely necessary to include these community partners,” Gore said.

Gore also intends to map out how the board will work with public health and community partners moving forward. Last year, Mase and her public health colleagues updated the board every other meeting.

Rabbitt said he is interested in seeing some adjustments made to the health order that would allow immediate family members to attend sports games after school. He noted the pandemic has been particularly hard for kids as they have dealt with remote learning and the loss of in-person extracurricular.

“I’m not talking about packing a gymnasium with a thousand spectators, just immediate family spread out in groups,” Rabbitt said.

Looking a bit more broadly, Rabbitt said he wants to gain a better collective understanding of the reasons for the health order.

“We need to make sure that we explain to people why, what we’re tracking and when we need to get back,” Rabbitt said.

It is that kind of detail Gore hopes hospital and school leaders will be able to help provide, in addition to Mase’s update.

“We are not at our best when we communicate solely through one lens,” Gore said.

Wednesday’s meeting will not be an “audit” of Mase and the latest order, he added.

Coursey, who said he supports the health order, stressed his support of Mase as well.

“Dr. Mase may tell us some different information than was available last week or 10 days ago. Absent that, I support Dr. Mase’s decisions here, if she tells me this is what we need to do,” Coursey said. “That’s why we hired her as a health officer, to be the expert.”

Staff Writer Martin Espinoza contributed to this story. You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.