A high number of coronavirus cases in the South Lake Tahoe area has prompted county supervisors to call an emergency meeting about enforcing rules aimed at limiting the disease’s spread.
The agenda for Thursday’s meeting of the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors includes a call for “direction to staff regarding enforcement against businesses and individuals who fail to comply with state and local health requirements.”
A news release Wednesday from the county focuses on a jump since the start of June in coronavirus cases in the county’s Lake Tahoe communities, including Twin Bridges, Meyers, Tahoma, part of Kirkwood and the city of South Lake Tahoe.
“As evidenced over the recent holiday weekend, too many (people) are still taking unnecessary risks,” the release says. “That causes great concern in a tourism-based and tourism-dependent destination like Lake Tahoe that counts on keeping its businesses open during the busy summer months.”
Nancy Williams, the county’s public health officer, pointed out: “If we were to treat the South Lake Tahoe region as if it were a county, it would now be added to the State’s monitoring list and asked to curtail certain activities.”
The latest data shows the county’s Tahoe region with a 14-day incidence rate of 169 cases per 100,000 population. Those cases could push the whole county past the threshold of 100, which triggers addition to the watch list.
At the start of April, barely two weeks into the coronavirus restrictions, the county issued a “no-travel” order to reduce the number of visitors — including vacation home owners — in the Lake Tahoe basin. Because of its success in keeping the case count low, El Dorado was one of the first two counties in the state to be moved to Phase 2 reopening status.
In recent weeks, however, South Lake Tahoe has seen a flood of visitors who are “not taking proper precautions,” said Carla Hass, of the county’s public information office.
El Dorado County, with a population of about 193,000, has had 264 confirmed cases — half of them in the Lake Tahoe region — and no deaths. The median age of patients is 40.
The watch list update released on Monday comprises 23 of the state’s 58 counties.
