Compliance to State health mandates urged to keep South Lake Tahoe and El Dorado County open

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - The Board of Supervisors held a meeting on Thursday to discuss the current situation of positive cases of COVID-19 in the county, especially in South Lake Tahoe where numbers are starting to grow.

After almost four hours of discussion, both amongst themselves and during public comment, the Board made the following action items but didn't vote on any county-wide orders:

The Board directed environmental management to suspend the health permits of those businesses they regulate that flagrantly defy State guidelines after efforts to educate owners and managers fail.

The Board also directed staff to continue its efforts to work with regional partners in the Lake Tahoe region to strategically conduct outreach and education activities to educate area businesses and the public.

Finally, the Board directed staff to prepare a broader enforcement strategy if needed.

At this time nothing is closing but compliance with the State's mandates on wearing masks and social distancing is encouraged in order to keep things open.

The Board also wants to create a regional task force that would include officials from Placer, Washoe, Nevada, and Douglas Counties with the City of South Lake Tahoe, all of which border Lake Tahoe.

In other area counties as of Thursday:

Placer County (north of Tahoma to Kings Beach, including Tahoe City) has been placed on the state’s COVID-19 Monitoring List as of July 9. If the county remains on the list for three consecutive days, some businesses will be required by the state to close indoor operations for a minimum of three weeks.

The following businesses in those watch areas are urged to prepare for a shift to outdoor operations:

Dine-in restaurants
Wineries and Tasting Rooms
Family Entertainment Centers
Movie Theaters
Zoos and Museums
Cardrooms

In addition, all brewpubs, breweries, bars, and pubs would need to close, both indoors and outdoors, unless they offer sit down, dine-in meals.

At this time, Placer is the only California county in the Sierra on the list.

Washoe County (including Incline Village) bars and restaurants must move back to Phase 1 of the Nevada reopening guidelines. Also on that list is Clark County and on Friday, Governor Sisolak will announce which hot spots and other counties will also go back to Phase 1.

Bars that serve food can still provide curbside and delivery service, but may not allow patrons on the premises, Sisolak said. Restaurants with bars must close the bar areas, regardless of if they have gaming machines installed.

El Dorado County's Director of Environmental Management Greg Stanton said he has been educating food and beverage businesses that fall under his realm. He said 75 complaints have been lodged against businesses in the county for failure to follow state guidelines, ten percent of those against permitted food and beverage places.

Most of the complaints are failure of staff and/or customers not wearing a mask or face covering. Stanton acknowledged it is tough to turn away business when customers won't put on a face covering.

"Most are doing a pretty good job with the guidelines," said Stanton. The ten percent not complying are doing nothing at all, or not enough to comply. He said Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) volunteered to assist in getting licensees to get behind face covering and social distance requirements.

El Dorado County is the biggest county in the state with zero deaths from COVID-19, a statistic worth acknowledging. Washoe County is 2.5 times size of El Dorado County and has had 89 deaths.

"We don’t really know why we’re being spared from deaths," said the County's Health Office Dr. Nancy Williams.

Many of the callers during the public communication portion of the meeting were concerned with constitutional rights in requiring masks and didn't want "Gestapo tactics" for making them comply, while others wanted things shut down to tourism so the coronavirus wouldn't be spread by visitors to South Lake Tahoe and the rest of the county.

Tahoe Chamber CEO Steve Teshara said the chamber is working with the business community and trying hard to keep things open.

"We want to focus on enforcement, it is key," said Teshara. "Most are working hard to comply. As in any community, we have a couple who are resisting compliance."

He said if there are no consequences there are going to continue to be those who won't comply but enforcement is needed to prevent the reclosing of restaurants and other businesses. These statements were echoed by South Lake Tahoe Chamber CEO Duane Wallace.

Even though many complained about masks and social distancing, others said it was important to listen to Williams' directives.

"Let's listen to the smartest ones in the room," said caller Ayana Morali. "Use science-based perspective. Shut down the options for inside (dining and drinking) – the rest of the world has figured it out."

“You are fools not to listen to them,” said caller Jason Harville of the Board not listening to the health experts.

Williams said all need to keep doing what they've been doing:
Stay home when sick
Avoid close contact with people not in your family
Wash hands
Cover nose/mouth when coughing/sneezing
Wear face masks when out
Physical distancing
Avoid/limit gathering and travel

"To remain open, we need to do things smartly," said Williams.

The Board didn't set a date for their next meeting on the subject but did say they'd use the special meeting format again.