Memorandum
Date: May 17, 2022
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Updated by Carol J. Huchingson, County Administrative Officer
Subject: Approve Continuation of a Local Health Emergency Related to the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) as Proclaimed by the Lake County Public Health Officer
Executive Summary: (include fiscal and staffing impact narrative):
The declaration was declared on March 9, 2020, by then Public Health Officer Gary Pace, due to the introduction of COVID-19 into the County of Lake. California Health and Safety Code Section 101080 provides authority for the Health Officer to issue a declaration of local health emergency.
The authority to discontinue the local health emergency rests with your Board.
As your Board is aware, the local health emergencies for all of the wildfire disasters since 2015 have continued well beyond the threat of the immediate disaster. The emergencies are continued during the months following to enable the County's claiming of disaster costs to FEMA and to CalOES, as applicable. County Disaster Finance staff have not been able to get a definitive answer from FEMA regarding the impacts of discontinuing the local health emergency and recommends that as long as we continue to incur and claim costs relating to COVID, that the local health emergency remain active.
There are no COVID-related local restrictions associated with the local health emergency, so while the declaration can remain in place to ensure recovery of associated costs, there is no impact on the public by having it continue.
Finally, in checking with other counties regarding their comparable declarations, the vast majority responding indicated they are continuing their local health emergencies for the reasons described herein and in fact, many have tied their local health emergencies to the State of California, meaning that when the State terminates its local health emergency, the counties will follow suit.
If not budgeted, fil...
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