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SEE OUR AD County of El
Friday, December 25, 2020
City streets aglow
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ON PAGE A6
Adult Protec and Human Services Agency tive Services
Volume 169 • Issue 150 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
Dorado Healt
ters
COVID-19 claims 5 more county lives Dawn Hodson Staff writer El Dorado County has reported five more COVID-19 related deaths this week, bringing the total to 13. The five reported this week are listed as a man (65 or older), South Lake Tahoe region; a man (65 or older), Pollock Pines, Camino, Kyburz region; a woman (age 50-64), South Lake Tahoe region; woman (65 or older), Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Rescue region; and a man (65 or older), Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Rescue region. The El Dorado County report released Dec. 23 lists 65 new case (5,023 overall): 3 in Pollock Pines/Camino/ Kyburz; 21 in El Dorado Hills; 4 in Diamond Springs/El Dorado; 4 in the nothern part of the county; 16 in greater Placerville; 12 in Cameron Park/Shingle Springs/Rescue; 1 in south county; 6 in the Lake Tahoe region; and 2 are awaiting address confirmation. The ages of those listed as new cases are: 11 who are ages 0-17; 31 who are ages 18-49; 15 who are ages 50-64 and 8 who are ages 65 or older. The county also reported 1,932 negative test results; 146 assumed recoveries (3,236 total); 26 hospitalizations with 5 in the ICU and 12.1% positivity rate. With respect to the tier assignment measures (this is according to the California Department of Public Health as of Wednesday morning). the adjusted case rate is 43.6; the positivity rate is 12.8% and the county is in the 15.1% health equity quartile positivity rate.
Lockdown extended
Mountain Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum
Strands of holiday lights strung up for the first time between Cedar Ravine Road and Bedford Avenue in downtown Placerville lead up to the town’s towering redwood Christmas tree.
On Dec. 22 California Acting Public Health Officer Erica S. Pan extended the state’s limited stay-at-home order and declared it would only expire after the regional stay-at-home order has terminated in all regions in the state. The Greater Sacramento (includes El Dorado County), Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions are all locked down at this time. Only the Northern California region has maintained ICU bed availability above the state’s threshold of 15%. Restrictions include all restaurants to close except for take-out/delivery. All barbershops, hair salons and nail salons to shut down. Retail outlets are required to limit customers to 20% capacity and residents have been asked to remain at home except to go to essential jobs or to do basic chores. Public gatherings are prohibited.
n See more Christmas lights on pages B1 and B2.
n
See COVID, page A7
SMUD inspects lines from above Kevin Christensen Staff writer SMUD crews used a helicopter to conduct inspections and maintenance on power lines and electrical equipment near Lotus Road and Highway 49 Monday. The purpose of the inspection was to look for potential defects, ensure safety and reliability of the lines, according to SMUD officials. During Monday’s inspection a specially-trained line worker in a chair was suspended from a helicopter with state-of-the-art photographic equipment that can take live X-ray photos of power lines. A separate team on the ground analyzed the photos live to see if there were any problems and determine what work must be done to fix the deficiencies. “SMUD has been doing this for a few
years now,” said Chris Capra, a SMUD news media services representative. “It’s an extra step to ensure our highervoltage transmission lines that bring power from our hydroelectric plants in El Dorado County are safe and reliable.” Capra said winter provides SMUD the best time of the year to perform these inspections because the hydro power the company generates at its plants is important to meet summer demands, especially the air conditioning load the utility company sees. “There’s not a lot of power generated up there in the fall and winter months so now is a good time to do the inspections and any associated maintenance,” he explained. In November SMUD inspected large sections of lines from Folsom through Courtesy photo n
See Smud, page A2
A SMUD employee inspects power lines while hanging from a helicopter.
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