Coronavirus precautions hit SLO County. Everything is closing. What do we do now?

There are still no confirmed cases of coronavirus in San Luis Obispo County, but health officials tell us it’s only a matter of time until someone here tests positive — and preventive measures have kicked into high gear.

On Thursday, organizations across the county began canceling events one after another.

On Friday morning, the county Public Health Department declared a local public health emergency, which makes the county eligible to access emergency funds if needed, and to receive expedited shipments of supplies.

And on Friday afternoon, local districts began announcing school closures.

It’s scary and unprecedented, but let’s put this in perspective: Even it there were to be a cluster of COVID-19 cases in San Luis Obispo County, that doesn’t mean we’re all going to get sick and die.

Of course we should take appropriate precautions, which we’ve already been doing in San Luis Obispo County.

Apart from that massive run on toilet paper, responses have been sensible, and we should be proud of that.

We’re not running around in face masks, which aren’t recommended for healthy people anyway.

We’re still dining out, shopping, walking our dogs and going to the gym.

Should Cal Poly close?

Deciding what to do about fundamental services — like courts and public meetings and especially education — is a tough call.

It’s especially fraught for Cal Poly.

Universities like Poly, where thousands live on campus, aren’t so different from cruise ships. Students are in close proximity to one another in dorms, dining rooms and classrooms where social distancing isn’t always possible. That makes it tough to prevent contagious diseases from spreading.

Unlike many other public universities in California, including UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly has continued in-person classes through finals next week.

The university did extend spring break by a week, and it’s advising students against traveling to high-risk areas during their time off. Cal Poly suggests staying in San Luis Obispo instead.

That make sense, but there still are a couple of issues.

Extending spring break makes it even more likely that students will leave town. And with this situation constantly changing, who’s to know what areas don’t have COVID-19 cases, especially given Californians’ much-too-limited access to testing?

(Note to powers-that-be in Sacramento: Denver has free, drive-through coronavirus testing for anyone with a doctor’s note. We need lots of those in California.)

Still, the longer break gives the university an opportunity to see what develops and weigh its options. Those could include opening on a limited basis, maybe for upper-division students who are close to graduation. Or providing remote instruction for lecture classes while still offering in-person labs.

Schools shutting down

Following the emergency declaration Friday morning, Atascadero Unified School District was the first to announce that all schools would close. San Luis Coastal and Lucia Mar followed.

That poses some immediate questions:

Where will children go while their parents are working? (Assuming parents can’t work at home.)

Will parents be forced to scramble every day to find someone to watch their kids, with no choice but to place them in less-than-suitable situations?

Will there be financial help for parents whose only option is to miss work?

And how are students going to make up for the missed instructional time? Will they do online learning, or will the school year be extended?

Keep in mind, schools aren’t just about instruction. Thanks to teachers, schools are a reliable safe haven for children — places where they are fed, protected and cared for by a staff that’s been trained to deal with emergencies, including infectious diseases.

Will there be some provision for students who depend on school services, such as free and reduced-price meals?

Balancing act

School closings and other aggressive measures should help slow the spread of coronavirus, but they can’t prevent it from reaching San Luis Obispo County.

Unless we’re willing to close SLO County’s borders — which is ridiculous, as well as unconstitutional — what’s to stop any of us from traveling to and from areas with coronavirus? You know, places like San Diego, Fresno and San Jose, where many of us have friends and family.

This is a balancing act.

We need to do what we can to stay safe. That includes washing our hands, not touching our faces, keeping a social distance from others when we’re out in public and, if we’re in a high-risk group, staying put as much as possible.

Beyond that, in these unusual times, we should try to retain as much of our routines as possible.

Remember, this it not the Black Plague. We’re going to get through this.

Want to find out more?

Call the SLO County Public Health Information line at 805-788-2903. Online Information and updates can be found at the county’s emergency information website, readyslo.org.

This has been updated to include information about school district closures.

This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 12:09 PM.