Sonoma County steps up testing of law enforcement after Santa Rosa officer dies from coronavirus complications

An outbreak of the coronavirus within the Santa Rosa Police Department, which lost a detective Tuesday to the disease it causes, has prompted Sonoma County's public health department to increase testing among law enforcement and expand public health investigations into those they may have exposed, Sonoma County Public Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase said.

Law enforcement make up about 11% of the 91 detected cases of COVID-19 in Sonoma County, an unsurprising proportion given their work interacting with the public, Mase said Wednesday. They are a top priority to be tested and for public health workers to track people they've encountered to find anyone who is symptomatic and ensure they are tested and isolated at home, she said.

'Those in law enforcement are more likely to get infected because they're out there as essential workers, and we have COVID-19 in the community,' Mase said.

They're also more likely to expose others to the virus should they have it and be asymptomatic, she said.

Public health orders mandating people isolate at home are widely thought to be slowing the spread of the virus in Sonoma County and across California, one of the first states to detect community spread and order residents to stay home and avoid congregating in public.

On Wednesday, Sonoma County's public schools as well as Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State University announced campuses would not reopen for the remainder of the academic year, a decision that means about 70,000 children from kindergarten to 12th  grade and about 31,000 college students must continue their schoolwork from home. Also this week, Mase extended the shelter-at-home order through May 3.

Of the 91 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19, 77 remained active cases, 13 had recovered and a man in his 60s with underlying health conditions died from the disease, according to county data. Seventeen people had been hospitalized due to the illness, six did not end up in the hospital and the county reported it had no information for the care level required by a remaining 13 cases.

'It looks like our shelter in place will be very effective in flatting the curve,' Mase said. 'Everybody should abide by it.'

So far, about 80 Santa Rosa police officers have been tested for COVID-19 as part of a surveillance program aimed at detecting those who may not know they have been exposed to the virus and allowing public health workers to track who these officers may have exposed, according to Mase.

That surveillance program revealed two cases out of the nine, 'which wasn't all that concerning,' according to Mase. Officers face no greater risk of complications from the disease than anyone else, given the way COVID-19 is known to cause more severe illness in people who are older or who have underlying health conditions.

'I am concerned that we have cases in law enforcement, but once infected they're at the same risk as anybody else,' Mase said.

The pace of preparations for a surge in coronavirus cases in Sonoma County has quickened and is on track to meet a greater demand, said Mase, who said she was 'absolutely' confident that local hospitals were adequately prepared.

Some local hospitals report they have enough intensive care beds to handle the current demand from COVID-19 patients.

David Ebright, a spokesman for Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center, said the local Kaiser hospital currently has adequate capacity with 20 ICU beds and a 'surge plan' that would increase that amount by 10.

Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, with 12 ICU beds, has only one COVID-19 patient receiving that level of care, according to a hospital employee who was not authorized to speak to media. Local hospital and county health officials have declined to say whether they are treating COVID-19 patients, citing broad patient privacy rules.

Local hospitals have for weeks been getting ready for a possible surge in COVID-19 patients in the near future. Ashley Boarman, a Sutter Health spokeswoman, said Wednesday that it could dramatically increase its 'critical care capacity' by two to three times in a short number of days by drawing on systemwide resources.

Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has 26 licensed beds for intensive-care patients and its sister medical center Petaluma Valley Hospital has nine of the beds. Hospital officials said these beds are currently occupied with patients with a variety of medical conditions, and the number of intensive-care beds available on a given day changes as patients are admitted and discharged. St. Joseph Health, which runs both hospitals, would not provide information about how many beds in intensive-care units are now being used to treat coronavirus patients, citing federal privacy rules that protect patient medical information.

County emergency management officials periodically poll local hospitals to determine how many extra hospital beds they can come up with. As of Wednesday, local hospitals report that they can come up with 335 additional beds, of which 90 are intensive care, 185 are moderate care and 70 are isolation beds, said Jennifer Laroque, a county spokeswoman.

The county's six regional and district hospitals currently have a total of 689 beds, including 76 ICU beds.

Laroque said the county is working with local health care providers, state health officials and vendors to find ways to staff the extra beds, especially the ICU beds, which require a higher level of care and medical equipment.

'We're in constant communication with hospitals and clinics to ensure we are preparing for surge capacity in case we need more hospital beds, ICU beds, ventilators, alternative care sites — all of this,' Mase said.