By order of the San Joaquin County Public Health Officer and Director of Emergency Services, a more stringent ‘stay at home’ directive has been issued.
Figures available from the county health department as of Monday, April 20 showed there were 446 confirmed coronavirus cases in the county as well as 18 deaths reported as a result of the virus.
The latest order directs:
“All individuals living in the county to stay at home or at their place of residence except that they may leave to provide or receive certain essential services or engage in certain essential activities and work for essential businesses and governmental services; exempting individuals experiencing homelessness from this order but urging them to find shelter and government agencies to provide it; directing all businesses and governmental agencies to cease non-essential operations at physical locations in the county; prohibiting all non-essential gatherings of any number of individuals; and ordering cessation of all non-essential travel.”
Violation of or failure to comply with this order, officials said, is a misdemeanor punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both.
This latest order repeals and replaces the order issued by the Director of Emergency Services on March 26 and incorporates by reference the directive from the California State Public Health Officer designating essential critical infrastructure workers. For more information on essential critical infrastructure workers, see https://covid19.ca.gov/img/essentialcriticalinfrastructureworkers.pdf. All sections of the order are binding on all businesses and individuals in San Joaquin County.
Those needing to leave home for essential trips – such as to supermarkets or health care appointments – are advised to wear face coverings.
Also, in Escalon, officials remind residents that parks are closed – the play structures in the parks are off limits and people are asked not to congregate in the parks. They can pass through them if they are bicycling, walking or jogging for exercise but there should be no congregating in any of the city parks.
Those businesses deemed essential in San Joaquin County were also requested to prepare and post a ‘Social Distancing Protocol’ for each of their facilities.
The county also is part of a Baseline COVID-19 Testing Program, for more information on that and to see if you qualify for a test, visit https://www.projectbaseline.com/study/covid-19/.
A weekly report is prepared by the San Joaquin County Public Health Department and posted each Friday by 5 p.m.; for more information, visit the website at www.sjcphs.org/.
