Sonoma County health officer urges young people to get COVID-19 testing

They’re young, healthy and some don’t even know they have the coronavirus.

They’re also the most likely to be out taking advantage of the loosening of stay-at-home restrictions, even as many elderly residents in Sonoma County avoid going out for fear of becoming infected.

As the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to grow in Sonoma County, local health officials on Friday highlighted the important role young people play in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a role that is complicated by the fact that a larger share of younger people with coronavirus show no symptoms, which makes tracking the virus more difficult.

Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer, said Friday that identifying young people who show no symptoms through testing and other public health measures is part of the county’s overall campaign to blunt the spread of a virus.

“Young people in our community need to get out and be tested,” she said. “They are the ones that are actually more out and about and doing things.

Mase said ramping up testing of younger residents would provide a better picture of how prevalent the virus is among this group, particularly at a time when more outdoor activities are allowed and with schools planning to reopen next fall.

According to the latest county public health data, local residents between the ages of 18 and 44 account for 56% of confirmed COVID-19 cases, with those between 25 and 44 representing 41% of cases. As of Friday afternoon, there were 1,006 cases in Sonoma County, with 487 of them active and 514 recovered. Five people have died of complications of COVID-19.

On Friday, Mase said many of the younger and working-age adults who have contracted the virus are part of the essential workforce, including farm and agricultural workers and food and beverage production. She said many of them are Latinos, a group that has been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic in Sonoma County, as well as other parts of the state and country.

County data shows that a larger share of younger people testing positive for the virus have no symptoms. Of those 18 to 24 who have tested positive for coronavirus, 28% showed no symptoms. For young people 5 to 17, the share who are asymptomatic is 46%.

In contrast, only 9% of positive cases residents 55 to 64 who have tested positive for the virus showed no symptoms. The share of seniors 65 to 74 with a confirmed case who showed no symptoms is 12%.

Throughout the pandemic, local health officials have feared that younger people with no or mild symptoms would unwittingly transmit the virus to older more vulnerable residents. Among the biggest fears is seeing the virus take hold in skilled nursing facilities or residential care homes.

Currently, a significant outbreak of COVID-19 is occurring at Broadway Villa Acute Care, a skilled nursing and therapeutic facility in Sonoma. The facility reported to the state on Thursday that 12 of its residents had tested positive for virus.

Mike Empey, executive director of Broadway Villa, has not returned multiple phone calls and emails this week seeking comment, with no response again on Friday.

Mase said it’s unclear to what degree infected individuals with no symptoms are transmitting the virus. But she said asymptomatic transmission has been documented.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, on Friday also raised concerns about the difficulty identifying the spread of the virus among asymptomatic and young people. Fauci, who is part of President Trump’s White House coronavirus task force, said Americans who don’t know they have the virus are inadvertently complicating traditional efforts at containing its spread.

Dr. Joseph Tito, chief of surgery at Healdsburg District Hospital, said getting tested is the only way those who are asymptomatic will know they have it. Widespread testing in the general population, along with contact tracing, social distancing and other public health strategies, are the only ways to stop people from “shedding the virus,” he said.

“It's very difficult to get someone who's completely asymptomatic, has no thought that they might have the virus, to stop their life in order to go get tested,” he said. “But as testing becomes more and more available, and quicker and quicker, that is when you'll see us really get a handle on this.”

Silvana Barbanti, 58, of Rohnert Park is one of those concerned that younger and healthier local residents are not taking the pandemic as seriously as they should, for their own sake and for that of people like her. Barbanti, who lives in an apartment complex, says she often sees young people in public without masks or not bothering to distance themselves from others.

“People don’t care, they just keep going and they bump into you without a mask,” she said. “I think there is a mentality where they (deny), there is not a pandemic. They say, ’my life is the same, everything is a same.’ ”

Barbanti, who has high blood pressure, said she considers herself extremely vulnerable and susceptible to severe COVID-19 illness. “I’m so afraid, you can’t believe how afraid I am.”

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.