The following statement can be attributed to El Dorado County Public Health Officer, Dr. Nancy Williams:
“On March 19th, 2020 I issued a stay-at-home directive for El Dorado County effective through April 30th, 2020. Later that evening, Governor Newsom issued a stay-at-home order for the entire state.
“I later augmented it with a subsequent order and the Board of Supervisors approved an emergency ordinance restricting nonessential travel to the El Dorado County portion of the Lake Tahoe basin. This additional restriction was due to concerns that the healthcare system in the South Lake Tahoe area could become overloaded as had occurred in similar resort communities in the Western U.S. Like those resort communities, South Lake Tahoe draws many tourists but has limited medical resources and other essential goods and services.
“I am extremely pleased with how cooperative the vast majority of El Dorado County residents, businesses and California residents in general have been in complying with state and local health orders and directives. This cooperation has resulted in very positive results, with only 43 confirmed and five active cases in the County as of April 27, 2020.
“The stay-at-home order was very effective in reducing the import of virus into and spread within our community, thus protecting our residents. Across the County, people have adapted to restrictions on nonessential activities and to the guidelines for physical distancing, good hygiene and other safety measures. Importantly, executives at the two hospitals in our County, Marshall Medical and Barton Health, do not believe that a careful, phased-in approach to relaxing of stay-at-home orders would put them at undue risk.
“For these reasons – the steps we took early on in the pandemic, the low number of cases in our County, the preparations of our health care providers for a surge in patients should it occur, and the overall compliance with both the Governor’s Order and my directive – I am letting the County’s stay-at-home directive expire on April 30th. Going forward, residents will be guided primarily by the Governor’s Order. I will remain vigilant and am prepared to reinstate County-level restrictions if necessary to protect our health care systems and our residents.
“The County Order restricting nonessential travel to the unincorporated portion of the Lake Tahoe Basin remains in effect, as does the County’s emergency ordinance allowing administrative fines for visitors to short-term rentals.”