Lake County sheriff calls for faster rollback of stay-home restrictions

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin believes his community has avoided a local outbreak of the coronavirus, and he hopes that a lengthy statement he released Friday night sparks a quicker rollback of restrictions he says aren’t entirely needed anymore.

Martin, the county’s top law enforcement official, questioned whether the novel coronavirus still qualified as an emergency in his community, and called for a deeper review of stay-at-home measures that hours earlier had been extended through May 17 by the Public Health Officer, Dr. Gary Pace.

Lake County has seven confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Of those, only one remains active, and no deaths have been reported.

The sheriff said those figures, as well as the slow rate of new cases, indicate that Lake County’s aggressive tactics have protected the community from a surge. But the sluggish pace of loosening restrictions has frustrated local residents and business owners, who Martin felt compelled to speak for as an elected leader.

“I don’t know how much longer we can continue to justify calling this an emergency,” Martin said in an interview Saturday. “If (the numbers) change, we’ll respond. But as I see it, it’s time to let people get back to making a living in this new normal.”

Reopening smaller, rural communities that rely on small businesses and tourism dollars has been a source of tension as lawmakers deliberate with public health officials over the steps and speed of the process.

Citing his duty to “ensure people’s constitutional rights while providing for public safety,” Martin acknowledged in his statement late Friday night that measures to limit the spread of the virus have caused financial pain to those he protects.

“These restrictions on our movements, our employment and our ability to conduct our daily lives have resulted in financial devastation to many, and will have long-lasting adverse impacts on this community which will add to the previous years’ disasters,” Martin said in the statement. “This situation can’t continue and the people I represent won’t allow it to continue indefinitely.”

Citing similar concerns, officials in neighboring Glenn and Colusa counties last week signed onto a six-county letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, requesting local authority to reopen rural Northern California counties that have fewer confirmed cases. By Monday, Sutter and Yuba counties will join Modoc, which last week was the first county in the state to defy Newsom’s orders and reopen nonessential businesses.

Some of those emotions boiled over in Lakeport on Friday as protesters gathered as in many cities around the state, decrying public health restrictions that have crippled the local economy and left 3 million California residents unemployed. The protest went mobile in a caravan of trucks, some towing boats, and assembled at the sheriff’s headquarters, where agitators accused the agency of overaggressive enforcement.

Those allegations were part of the reason Martin released a statement, he said. He wanted to make it clear that deputies do not want to “make criminals out of people who aren’t.”

So far the Sheriff’s Office has responded to more than 700 apparent public health violations since the shelter-in-place orders took effect March 18. The agency has issued six citations and arrested 15 people, but each person was also engaged in criminal activity like vandalism or burglary, Martin said.

A source of angst in Lake County has been over the continued shutdown of Clear Lake, which Martin initially called for to dissuade tourists who might bring the disease into the region.

Pace, the public health officer, relaxed restrictions on April 23, allowing fishing from the shore and hand-powered watercraft. But Martin questioned whether closing off the lake to larger crafts was still in the community’s best interests.

“If our goal is to stop people from coming here, people are leaving this area, going and coming back,” he said. “For me, it’s a question of what are we trying to accomplish.”

The Lake County Water Resources Department said it’s not that simple.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, addressing rumors there would be no enforcement at the lake, the agency said a surge of boats could disrupt the ecosystem and introduce not just the potential of COVID-19, but invasive mussels that endanger both the fishery and drinking water systems.

The department is currently working with neighboring water bodies on a coordinated reopening to alleviate a surge at any one location.

Martin said his comments about the gravity of the emergency, or the agency’s approach to enforcement, were not intended to undermine the public health officer’s authority, or encourage residents to disregard his orders.

Still, the sheriff’s comments caught some Lake County officials off-guard.

Supervisor Rob Brown, who cast the lone vote against the stay-home orders when they were first adopted, said Martin’s comments “surprised everybody,” and were a different tone that his public statements over the last six weeks.

Eddie “EJ” Crandell, Lake County Supervisor and chairman of the Robinson Rancheria, said the sheriff’s remarks captured a growing sentiment in the community. Crandell said he empathizes with business owners who are suffering, and has been a part of a business committee Brown has convened, but he still has concerns about the threat of the virus for the elderly.

As for whether Martin’s statement leads to more rule-breaking at the lake, it “depends on who reads it that way,” he said.

“I think we all need to work together on this and come together to a consensus somehow,” Crandell said. “I’m hopeful that’s what’s going to happen.”