In mid-October Shasta County had the highest rate of new COVID cases in California, 19 per 100,000 residents.
Its numbers are now well above that rate and there’s no sign the county will escape purple tier status anytime soon.
Kerrie Schutte, a spokesperson for Shasta County Public Health, gave a stark assessment of the current rate of infection.“Our adjusted case rate has increased at 34 daily cases per 100,000 residents which is extraordinarily high.” Schutte said. “The purple tierlimit is seven; we’re at 34, so we’re nowhere near where we need to be right now.”
Schutte says it’s unclear how Thanksgiving will affect the COVID curve in Shasta County.
The comments she’s heard from residents about how they’ll approach holiday get togethers run the gamut.
“You know it’s hard to know how much of an impact it’s going to have,” she said. “There are some people who are saying absolutely not, we’re doing what we’ve always done, but we’ve heard lots and lots and lots of people saying, yup it’s just going to be four or five of us at our house this time, and you know we’ve told our family members that … you know … that this is in the best interest of all of us and hopefully next year things will be different but this year we’re just going to stick close to home.”
On Monday Butte, Glenn, Trinity and Siskiyou counties joined Tehama and Shasta counties in the purple tier.
