In an eight-part series we look back at the world that was, here in our little corner of it. 2020 was a year of challenges. We’ll be publishing this eight-piece work daily as we work to the new year. Today’s piece is on the story that dominated all aspects of life this year, the COVID-19 pandemic.
The whole year feels as if it were paused in March never to resume, however, somehow nine months of coping and living with the coronavirus pandemic have passed, lurching forward in weird phases and chunks of time.
On March 2, the Sonoma County Department of Health Services confirmed a presumptive positive case of COVID-19 in a resident with recent international travel. A presumptive positive case is defined as likely to be positive for COVID-19.
As of March 3, this was the second case of COVID-19 in the county. In a statement on Feb. 26, the Sonoma County Department of Health Services (DHS) confirmed an individual infected with COVID-19 was being treated at a hospital in the county.
On Feb. 26 the patient was transported to a Sonoma County hospital from Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, where some international travelers had been quarantined because of possible exposure to the virus.
As of March 2 there were only 43 positive cases of COVID-19 in California, 24 of which were from those who returned from a Princess cruise ship, 10 of which were travel-related, two that were from person-to-person exposure in a family, three from person-to-person contact in a health care facility and four from what were unknown sources at the time.
Following the March 2 presumptive positive case of a Sonoma County resident, the county of Sonoma declared a Local Public Health Emergency as well as a Local Emergency to respond to COVID-19.
On March 17 Sonoma County residents were ordered to shelter in place. The order was expected to last through April 7.
Residents were instructed to shelter in their homes, except for leaving for essential activities and services such as grocery shopping. The order also directed all businesses and governmental agencies to cease all non-essential operations at physical locations in the county and prohibited all non-essential gatherings of any size and non-essential travel. Sonoma County Regional Parks and city parks also closed.
The order was issued in response to the six cases of COVID-19 that the county had at the time, and the 258 confirmed cases and three deaths in the seven Bay Area jurisdictions that had occurred at the time.
On March 31, Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase announced that the county shelter-in-place order would be extended until May 3.
In early April, Mase reported that modeling data from the Imperial College of London revealed that the county’s shelter-in-place order was significantly flattening the curve of COVID-19, and reducing the mortality rate for those over the age of 65.
Toward the end of April, Sonoma County parks reopened again, however, the hitch was you could only visit a park by getting there on foot or by bicycle.
As the shelter-in-place order and pandemic wore on into June, Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick made a controversial announcement that effective June 1 he would direct all sheriff’s office staff to discontinue the enforcement of Sonoma County Public Health Orders issued by the Sonoma County Public Health Department and the Public Health Officer.
On June 2, the county released a joint statement with the sheriff’s office in which both parties agreed to play nice.
Starting June 6, in-person faith-based services, indoor retail shopping and dining, hair salons and barbershops were allowed to reopen in Sonoma County with mitigation measures in place such as facial coverings and social distancing.
The updated order also permitted the reopening of public, semi-private and private pools in health clubs. Mase said health clubs could provide facilities for lap swimming and fitness classes when following certain provisions such as six-foot social distancing.
One question that was still up in the air was when folks could go to hotels, rent short- term vacation homes, or go on vacation and leave town. At the time, the answer was “Not yet.”
Sonoma County was added to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s coronavirus county watchlist on July 10, joining 29 other counties in the state. The watchlist placement was in response to an uptick in COVID-19 cases seen in June and early July.
Virus cases in the county over a 24-hour period spiked on July 3, when the reported new cases in a single day nearly doubled the previous highest spike. Initial numbers reported listed 92 new cases on July 3, though the county’s coronavirus data portal says that 87 new cases were added.
Following the announcement of the county’s placement on the state coronavirus watchlist, Newsom announced in a July 13 press conference that all California counties would be required to close dine-in restaurants, indoor operations for wineries and tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos and museums and cardrooms. Bars, brewpubs, breweries and pubs were also ordered to halt all operation (outdoor included).
Since the county was on the state’s watchlist, fitness centers, worship services, protests, offices for non- essential sectors, personal care services (like nail salons, body waxing and tattoo parlors), hair salons and barbershops and malls were also required to shut down or not happen, unless they can be moved outdoors or operate via pick-up.
Before the announcement, Sonoma County was on its first day of the closure of dine-in restaurants, indoor operations for wineries and tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos and museums and cardrooms, due to the earlier closure guidelines related to being on the state’s watchlist.
In August, the county enhanced it’s reporting structure and started reporting cases by zip code. On Aug. 16 total cases in Windsor were192, with 92 active cases, and 5% of the total cases in the county at that time.
Toward the end of August another major COVID-related change was announced. Newsom and the California State Department of Public Health announced a new state COVID-19 monitoring system for counties that involves four color-coded tiers related to coronavirus spread.
The tiered system, Blueprint for a Safer Economy, dictates how specific business sectors can operate. In the purple tier many non-essential indoor business operations are closed. The red tier denotes “substantial” virus spread, and allows some business closed under the purple tier to reopen.
The orange and yellow tiers are a bit looser in terms of which business sectors can be opened indoor or out.
In November as cases began to rise throughout the country, state and the county, Newsom announced new restrictions including a curfew for counties that are in the purple tier.
In December a new state stay at home order was introduced following an explosion of increased cases resulting from holiday gatherings from Halloween and Thanksgiving festivities.
In a statement on Dec. 10, the county announced that due to rising COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations, the county would join six other Bay Area counties and the city of Berkeley in preemptively adopting the California Department of Public Health’s Stay-Home Order beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12 and lasting through at lease Jan. 9, 2021.
The order was similar to the March order but did allow retail business to remain open at 20% capacity.
Under the order residents are directed to stay at home except for work, shopping or other essential activities, such as medical appointments. All sectors other than retail and essential operations must be closed. Outdoor recreation, like hiking, biking and skiing, will be allowed. While many have called December the darkest hour of the pandemic, a sliver of light and hope started shining with the release of the Pfizer vaccine.
In a virtual conference on Dec. 14, Mase announced that the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine would be arriving in Sonoma County that week.
The five boxes of the Pfizer vaccine arrived on Dec. 16, each box containing 975 doses. One box each was delivered to Kaiser Hospital, Sutter Hospital and Memorial Hospital, with the final two boxes being kept by the county’s health department. The larger hospitals will distribute the vaccine to the smaller hospitals: Healdsburg District Hospital, Sonoma Valley Hospital and Petaluma Valley Hospital.
Local cases
While cases have continued to spike wildly throughout Windsor and the county (as well as the state and nation), a few well-known faces in town became infected.
In April, Former Windsor Police Chief Carlos Basurto has released a statement on social media discussing his recent battle with COVID-19, which culminated in a 20-day hospital stay, including intubation and six days of unconsciousness. Basurto retired in May 2019 after two and a half years in the post.
According to Basurto, he contracted the virus while on a family vacation in New Orleans, a vacation, he admits, his wife asked him to cancel. “My response to her was … verbatim … ‘We’re not canceling. This thing is supposed to be just like the flu.’”
According to Basurto, he had been in New Orleans about five days when he began to feel ill, primarily with fatigue and loss of appetite. He decided to fly home two days later, as his illness was worsening.
Basurto detailed his rapid deterioration as his pneumonia worsened. He was intubated on day five and proceeded to lose consciousness for six days. Though he has returned home, he stated he continues to have breathing difficulties and the virus has caused issues with his legs that have him currently using a walker.
Basurto was treated at Sutter Santa Rosa, and gave thanks the medical and nursing staff for their care.
In October, a series of shocking events led Mayor Dominic Foppoli to issue a statement at the Nov. 4 meeting of the town council.
Foppoli had revealed earlier in the week in his social media that he had contracted COVID-19, but his behavior before and after didn’t seem to fit with appropriate action, including travelling while ill and, more importantly, attending a town Halloween event featuring a trick-or-treat trail for children.
“(One) thing I wanted to address is to provide some clarity on an issue that affects me personally,” Foppoli began on Nov. 4. “If you haven’t heard, I tested positive for COVID a little while back and I wanted at assure the public in Windsor that at no point was I around anybody purposely when I knew I was contagious. I was assured by county health and (Sonoma County Health Officer) Dr. (Sundari) Mase that I was never putting anybody at risk by going public.”
According to an account on his Facebook page, on approximately Oct. 18 Foppoli was on a business trip to Tennessee when he developed what he describes as “symptoms of a very minor cold.” Foppoli flew home, and later that week took a COVID test at Windsor’s newly opened testing site at the Bluebird Center. He took the test as a way to publicize the testing facility and was informed on Thursday, Oct. 29 that he had tested positive.
The controversy comes from the fact that on Oct. 31, he participated in Windsor’s Halloween Trick or Treat Trail, handing out candy. He did wear a mask for the event. Foppoli has stated that he did so with blessing of local health authorities.
“I have shared this information with those who I encountered over the previous days, and especially those who supported me by helping me wave (campaign) signs during the week,” he said in a statement on Nov. 1. “By Friday morning (Oct. 30), I had passed the 10-day mark and was no longer contagious. I have confirmed this with multiple COVID experts, including Dr. Mase.”
At the time, that statement is in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, which states those who test positive for COVID “can be around others after:
- 10 days since symptoms first appeared and
- 24 hours with no fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and
- Other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving*
*Loss of taste and smell may persist for weeks or months after recovery and need not delay the end of isolation
Backlash on social media was swift, as families who had attended the event were concerned that Foppoli had endangered them by attending the event. He attempted to smooth things over with a subsequent social media post on Nov. 2, which did little to calm the concerns.
But, by the Nov.4 council meeting, he had changed his tune somewhat.
“I acknowledge that, in retrospect, I should have stayed in Tennessee, tested there and quarantined,” he said. “I apologize for making anybody in Windsor at all stressed out or concerned, more than they should have been.”
In his Nov.1 social media post about the situation, Foppoli mentioned that his hope was to bring attention to lack of speed in testing or contact tracing, which he cited as a reason he believes Sonoma County continues to languish in the most restrictive virus tier.
“My contact tracing appointment (was) not set until … one whole week after I was initially tested. I have shared this experience with the Sonoma County Mayors Association, and we plan to call out these inefficiencies to ensure Sonoma County systems are as responsive as possible,” he said on Nov. 1. “Even outside of my own experience, it is my belief that the speed of our testing and tracing is contributing to the fact that our county remains in a high tier. I am someone who has access to resources and information, but many others who get a similar diagnosis may not have the resources they need to protect themselves and their families physically and financially in a timely way.”
Schools struggle
No sector of life was more impacted than schools, as families struggled to manage closed schools, distance learning and it’s incumbent technology and the social and emotional needs of students facing a year like no other.
At 4 p.m. on March 14, the Windsor Unified School District joined the majority of other Sonoma County school districts in suspending classes until early April.
“We are implementing these measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through social distancing. It is important to note that there are currently no known cases of COVID-19 among our students or staff. This decision allows our community to ‘flatten the curve’ and reduce community spread of the virus,” said former Windsor Superintendent Brandon Krueger in a statement at the time.
According to Krueger’s statement, the decision was made in collaboration with the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) and nearby school districts. Both the Healdsburg and Cloverdale unified school districts also announced their decisions to suspend site-based learning on Saturday.
However, as the pandemic wore on, so did school closures, as of December, public schools in Windsor had remained closed and on distance learning through the end of the 2019-20 school year and into the start of the 2020-21 school year. As of press time, schools were slated to remain closed through March of 2020.
While parents struggled, teachers and students did too, and by the first progress reports in the fall alarm bells were being raised about a larger-than-normal number of Ds and Fs (37%) among students at the middle and high schools level, in Windsor and throughout the county.
SCOE started facilitating meetings, bringing together different districts and stakeholders to try to evaluate the problems and come up with solutions.
For school districts, the monitoring system addresses when and how schools will be allowed to open for in-person learning. Counties like Sonoma County that are in the purple tier — the most severe tier that denotes a widespread presence of coronavirus — cannot be open for in-person learning and must stay in distance learning.
Once a county moves from purple into the red tier and has been in the tier for at least weeks then school districts, private and charter schools can move to some form of in- person learning, whether it be hybrid learning or full-time in-person learning.
State guidelines for school reopening were released in June, but with Sonoma County firmly in the purple tier, the guidelines were purely academic.
As of Dec. 15, there were 1,149.5 active cases in Windsor. As of Dec. 22, there were 4,677 active cases, out of a total of 17,208 cases and 180 deaths.
