C A L I F O R N I A ’ S O L D E S T N E W S PA P E R – E S T. 18 51
VOLUME 170 • ISSUE 5 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2021
PARALLELS IN PANDEMICS COVID deaths up as vaccines rolled out Dawn Hodson Staff writer Placerville swapped places with South Lake Tahoe last week when it became El Dorado County's COVID-19 hotspot. The county's Public Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting said in the previous 14 days Placerville went from 609 to over 1,000 virus cases per 100,000 population. South Lake Tahoe improved, going from 1,226 cases per 100,000 population to 450. At the time of the meeting the county's COVID-19 death count was 24 but that number inched up to 33 as more fatalities were reported later in the week. During Williams' presentation, in response to a question from the public, Williams said people who die of other conditions but who also test positive for COVID-19 are classified as having died of COVID-19. Some people have underlying health conditions but that doesn't mean they were going to die anyway, she emphasized, and are only counted if the coronavirus is a contributing factor. The number of residents dying in nursing homes was also discussed. According to the state's COVID-19 dashboard, as of Jan. 6, fewer than 11 people have died in each of the three nursing facilities listed (Gold Country Health Center, The Pines at Placerville and Western Slope Health Center) although there are more than three nursing facilities in the county. The dashboard also shows 17 active cases in residents at Gold Country, 33 at The Pines and 48 at Western Slope. Active cases in healthcare workers at the three facilities number less than 11 at Gold Country, 51 at The Pines and 42 at Western Slope. Supervisor George Turnboo questioned how people are contracting the disease since visitors generally can't get in to see patients. Williams responded that they are clearly catching it from the staff even though staff are screened before entering the facility and the facilities are taking the usual precautions such as mask-wearing, disinfecting and vaccinating staff as vaccines become available. The county was initially lucky in the low number of nursing home deaths we had, Williams acknowledged while saying she heard from a reputable n
See VACCINE, page A6
El Dorado County Historical Museum collection photo
A parade on Placerville’s Main Street, probably for the first anniversary of the World War I Armistice Nov. 11, 1919, shows paradegoers wearing masks. An unmasked Mabel Lyon rides on a float.
A look back at reporting amid an outbreak a century ago
adjusted for inflation, is about $87 in today’s dollars. But the penalty increased tenfold for subsequent violations or what hat was it like would be nearly $938 now. in El Dorado An October 1918 article County during the published in the Georgetown 1918 pandemic? Gazette, "Influenza epidemic A review of local newspapers throughout the country," gives published 102 years ago a more rural perspective. reveals parallels with the "Hundreds of deaths current COVID-19 outbreak. throughout the country are Newspapers in the area then repeated daily. Churches and were the Placerville Republican nearly all schools are closed and the Mountain Democrat; and public gatherings indoors upcountry was the Georgetown are forbidden all over the Gazette. United States. Gauze masks The 1918 flu pandemic infected must be worn by everyone Mountain Democrat file about one-third of the world's who has a cold or cough and This illustration accompanied an 1918 public service population — 500 million at the in the cities the masks are announcement from the surgeon general. time — with 50 to 100 million worn by the public generally, dying from the disease. The as a preventative." H1N1 virus was most prevalent "There are as yet no proven cases of the disease in in 1918-19, the last two years of World War I. Georgetown but our people are cautioned not to go in Concerned with a need for public protection from the other towns and cities unless it is absolutely necessary, and influenza, the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors then use the precaution of wearing a mask," continues the passed an ordinance Nov. 11, 1918, mandating the use of article. masks in public and setting fines and jail sentences for Mask compliance appears not to have drawn a second violations. That ordinance was published in the Mountain thought when the mandate was first passed. It was the end Democrat, giving residents notice the order would be of World War I and the country was united. The public was enforced after 15 days. already making sacrifices for the war effort and wearing a Local mask law called for up to five days in jail; a $5 n See PANDEMICS, page A3 fine was the maximum penalty for the first offense, which, Kirk Callan Smith Special to the Democrat
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Valley View Village Park to break ground in early spring park planning system than in past years. “This is the new way in which staff are moving large construction projects forward, so as to avoid unnecessary time overruns due to permitting delays after award of a project,” said Fessler, explaining that Stantec is responsible for pulling all required permits. “When they are done they will be able to hand over to the district a fully approved set of construction drawings along with the necessary permits to be able to move forward.” Finalized construction drawings are expected by February and KYA plans to break ground early this spring. With an estimated six-month construction timeline, the park is slated for completion by fall. The new process bypasses typical requests for proposals, which often take four to seven months to complete and can result in change orders or addendums to the original contract, as was experienced with the still on-going construction of Heritage-Carson Creek Park. “Working with the KYA Group, we’ve had several successful projects, one being the Promontory synthetic field,” Fessler pointed out. “Our working relationship with them is excellent. They have never come back for any change orders. They’ve been very thorough and meticulous in handling their projects, making sure that when a project is complete they’re handing it over at
Sel Richard Staff writer Blackstone residents can look forward to a new park. El Dorado Hills Community Services District board members recently awarded a construction contract for the approximately 13-acre Valley View Village Park to KYA Group. Located at the corner of Keystone and Blackstone Parkway, the park will feature all-inclusive play areas for ages 2-5 and 5-12 with poured-in-place surfacing and shade structures, a pavilion with picnic tables and barbecues, trails with fitness nodes and interpretive signage, an open turf area, restrooms, preserved open space and a bridge to span the major wetland waterway at the western entrance. The parking lot will be gated and locked from sunset to sunrise. “This project went through several community engagement efforts to narrow in on the approved design,” said CSD Parks and Planning Director Tauni Fessler. “The residents of Blackstone, along with our overall EDH community, played a strong role in providing input along the way.” Construction drawings were completed by Stantec over the past year and are expected to be approved within the next two months, ushering in a different
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100% satisfaction to district and the community.” KYA’s proposal for construction and project management of Valley View Village Park is a not-toexceed lump sum of $4,992,372.25 barring any districtinitiated changes. This includes an extra $916,807 on top of the original cost estimate to cover the addition of six interpretive signs, two shade structures and pouredin-place playground surfacing as well as some inclusive playground elements. The project will be funded by park impact fees held by the county. “This is a flat cost,” said Fessler. “If there happens to be any site challenges, the contractor will work with that with no additional charge to the district. They’re confident with the costs they’ve provided that they would be able to do it without coming back to the district for change orders.” At the December CSD Board of Directors meeting, Director Allan Priest expressed concern with oversight due to the lack of an architect to manage quality control. “There will be weekly meetings with staff on site," Fessler assured. "KYA Group has agreed to provide that project management and construction oversight with staff checking the specs.” Valley View Village Park is the second of three parks planned within the Valley View Specific Plan. Valley View Sports Park was constructed in 2014.
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