El Dorado County supervisors urge residents to direct COVID-19 concerns to State decision makers

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - In less than a month, the State of California is slated to fully reopen the economy with the removal of mask mandates and the color tiered system that has been in place to orchestrate what could, and could not, be done at the height of the pandemic.

Until June 15, El Dorado County remains under state mandates, and the Board of Supervisors reminds residents that it is the "Governor’s Administration which determines COVID-19 related restrictions and guidelines."

In a statement released Thursday, the supervisors said that individual counties have always had the discretion to make more restrictive guidelines but not take a more lenient approach to safety measures. Since the pandemic began, several members of the public on the West Slope have vocally disapproved of the County's response and the focus of their attacks has often been El Dorado County Public Health Officer Nancy Williams.

During its May 18 meeting, these residents demanded the County allow kids to go to school without masks, something the supervisors cannot control.

“There has been significant confusion among the public about the role of County Public Health and its breadth of decision-making abilities in this pandemic," said Board Chair John Hidahl in Thursday's statement. "[This] has led to misdirected criticism at best and verbal and physical hostility at worst toward County employees who are simply acting at the direction of the State to help ensure the health and safety of our residents.”

“From the beginning of this pandemic 15 months ago our County has followed the lead of the Governor’s Administration in all manner of COVID-19 restrictions and guidance,” Hidahl continued. “With a short-lived exception of a travel ban to the Tahoe Basin, we have never taken a more stringent approach to safeguard the health of our public.”

“It’s important for the general public and specifically those demanding El Dorado County Public Health make masks optional in schools and other settings to understand we simply do not have the discretion to make those decisions,” Hidahl said. “Complaints, concerns, and requests for such changes should be directed
to the California Department of Public Health and the Governor’s Office where the decisions are being made.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on May 13, 2021, announced recommendations that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a mask or physically distance in virtually any setting, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance. It also requires masks to be worn on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States, and in U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations.

California’s Health & Human Services Agency Secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly, on May 17 said the State won’t adopt the CDC’s new guidelines until June 15 for a number of reasons, including allowing more people to become fully vaccinated and providing businesses with ample time to prepare for the change. Just as with counties, states can have stricter rules than those at the national level.

“El Dorado County has consistently aligned its COVID-19 approach with CDPH and the masking issue for the general public and students is no exception,” Hidahl said. “If you want a change in the guidelines, contact the State with your request. Contact your state elected officials to lobby the Governor’s Administration to
make the changes you want to see. Please direct your efforts to where the decisions are being made, which have been and continue to be at the State level, rather than at the County which has no authority to do less than the State.”