Full Notification

The Contra Costa County Health Department reported today that 212 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the county.  This is a 44% increase since Friday.  Remember, it can take up to 14 days for the virus to incubate and a person to have symptoms.  Between this time and the increase in the amount of testing, the number of positive tests is expected to continue to increase.  This is why social distancing is critically essential to prevent the further spread of the virus. 
 
Without social distancing, we are connected to more people than we could ever imagine, just through simple contacts.  For example, when your child goes on a regular playdate or to hang out with friends, your family and the friend you are having lunch with are now connected to the infected friend of your child’s friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s mother, who isn’t displaying any COVID-19 symptoms, but has the virus.  The best way to reduce the time we need to shelter-in-place is to Break the Chain – minimize the risk to your family – flatten the curve so that our healthcare resources will be sufficient to treat everyone who is sick.
 
The County Health Officer has extended the Shelter-in-Place order until May 3^rd.  The order has also been modified and now also prohibits the following activities:

• Use of playgrounds, dog parks, public picnic areas.
• Use of tennis courts, golf courses, pools, basketball courts or other shared recreational facilities.
• Sports requiring people to share a ball or other equipment must be limited to people in the same household
• Most construction – residential and commercial - is now prohibited. The only exceptions are construction for affordable housing, making an existing construction site safe, or construction to ensure that a residence or essential business building is safe, sanitary and habitable to the extent that construction or repair cannot be delayed.

 
Essential Businesses, as defined in the original order, have also been changed:

• All essential businesses must establish a social distancing protocol by April 2.
• Essential businesses must scale back to only essential activities.
• This order expands the definition of essential business to include businesses that enable residential transactions (realtors, notaries, etc.), funeral homes, cemeteries (funerals may only have 10 people in attendance), moving companies, rental car companies and rideshare services.

 
There is a copy of the revised Health Officer order attached to this advisory – please review the order for more information.  Additionally, you can also check with the County Health Department at www.coronavirus.cchealth.org or by calling 844-729-8410.  The Health Department maintains the most current and accurate information about COVID-19 and about the Health Officer’s order.
 
Please continue to patronize our local businesses that are working hard to provide food, services and supplies to all of us during these challenging times.  For a list of local businesses that are open to serve you, please check www.moragachamber.org. 
 
Please stay safe and healthy and help us to keep Moraga a safe community.