SLO County Public Health extends shelter-at-home order
San Luis Obispo County residents will be hunkering down for at least a couple more weeks following an extension of the county Public Health Department’s shelter-at-home order.
The agency announced Friday that the emergency order, issued March 19, will again be extended for 14 days, to May 16.
Until that time, the county’s order remains in effect while officials works to develop a clear plan for safely reopening, a news release said.
“Our goal is to be ready when the governor lifts the state’s order and transitions all authority back to local officials,” said Wade Horton, county emergency services director, in the release. “With our order in place concurrent with the state’s order, we still have some local control over what we can do. If we lift our order, we are completely under the state’s authority.”
Residents of all California counties remain under the statewide stay-at-home order that prohibiting gatherings and closing non-essential businesses.
The local order calls for a review every 14 days to evaluate whether it should be modified, rescinded, or continued, the county said in the release.
Friday marked the second review, and county officials will continue to re-evaluate the order every two weeks.
Loosening coronavirus restrictions
Dr. Penny Borenstein, county Public Health officer, said at a Friday news conference that residents should be proud to have reached the milestone of a flattened coronavirus transmission curve.
“We want to bring the community along to the next milestone of loosening the restrictions,” Borenstein said. “We’re prepared to do that, but we need for everybody to continue to understand that this is not going to be a light switch where we go from where we were in January back to that place. We will go to a new place.”
Borenstein said now is not the time for residents to lose their resolve or to stop adhering to social distancing guidelines. She said officials are aware residents may not be happy to hear the county has renewed its shelter-at-home order.
“I know that is going to make people slump in their chairs and feel that ‘I don’t know if I can do what we’ve been doing for another 30 days,’” Borenstein said.
However, she reminded residents the county can re-evaluate its order at any time once the state mandate is lifted.
“We intend to lift that order just as soon as we can,” Borenstein said. “We will replace it with something that is most likely far less restrictive, but we can do that at any point.”
Testing improvements needed
Borenstein expressed continued concerns about improving the county’s disease tracking and testing capabilities, as “we’re going to really need that information to understand where we are in this epidemic.”
However, she said she also worries about the adverse effects of continuing shelter-at-home and social distancing requirements.
“We do want to get people back to work,” Borenstein said. “I very much am concerned that all of these measures do have health impacts ... whether it’s mental illness or people not eating as well because they’re not using their regular patterns, not sleeping as well — all of those things. We want to alleviate those conditions as soon as possible.”
For updates on COVID-19 in San Luis Obispo County, visit ReadySLO.org or call the recorded Public Health Information Line at 805-788-2903.
Contact the county’s phone assistance center at 805-543-2444 for COVID-19 information. The phone assistance line is staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends.
This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 2:06 PM.
