Sacramento County workers alarmed by COVID-19 outbreaks, lack of deep cleaning in offices

The chair of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors lashed out at the county’s top administrators Tuesday, following an embarrassing episode last week in which a county department head tested positive for the coronavirus after an indoor meeting for top managers — most of whom did not wear masks.

The incident forced some of those in attendance to quarantine for 14 days and revealed that even as the county imposed stringent rules to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, its top leaders did not always follow them. As a result, the board of supervisors held the regular meeting over teleconference Tuesday.

The meeting came as rank-and-file workers across the county have expressed alarm at outbreaks in their own offices, including in the Department of Human Assistance, which handles Medi-Cal, foster care, jobs programs and other services.

The county employs close to 12,000 people, and since late June close to 3,000 county employees still come to work in-person. In the first month, the number of positive cases remained relatively small. The county recorded only a dozen by July 25, according to data provided to The Bee.

That number has since grown to a little more 100 positive COVID-19 cases among its employees as of Sept. 18, data shows. More than one-third of them, 39 cases precisely, were in the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and 16 cases were recorded in the probation department.

At least two of the supervisors, Board Chairman Phil Serna and Don Nottoli said the manager’s meeting that occurred last week was unacceptable and asked county leaders how they planned to do better. The county has to set an example, Serna said.

“You can sense the frustration and disappointment in my voice,” he told county executive Navdeep Gill and the public health chiefs.

Dr. Peter Beilenson, who oversees the Department of Health Services, said they would continue to require masks and social distancing. Dr. Olivia Kasirye, the county’s public health officer, said they would also recommend any meetings be done remotely if possible.

“That all sounds great but it sounds soft,” Serna said in response. “Perhaps Mr. Gill you would like to chime in here. You’re the head of this organization. I would like to understand how we are going to take more seriously that masks and social distancing are our best defense here?”

Serna suggested the county executive send an email to all departments, essentially instructing them to step up their coronavirus safety efforts, pointing out that the county is not only the government entity responsible for public safety under COVID-19, but it is also the second-largest employer in the county.

The meeting is the latest blunder for the county after it was disclosed recently that a lion’s share of federal funding for the COVID-19 crisis was directed toward the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. Gill restated the health officials’ advice and agreed to send county employees the memo.

“We’re going to re-stress, given the situation that we find ourselves in, that if people have symptoms and they have been tested, stay home, don’t come in,” Gill said.

Cases mount in Rancho Cordova office

The manager’s meeting was both telling and troubling, some say, in light of other ways the county administration has responded internally to the threat of COVID-19.

“If he (Gill) doesn’t require his executives to wear them, are they carrying that down in the departments?,” said Ted Somera, executive director for United Public Employees, the union that represents county workers.

Since earlier this month, the number of positive cases has been steadily growing in the Rancho Cordova office of the Department of Human Assistance. The Folsom Boulevard building typically holds about 100 but has been operating with about 50 people since employees came back.

Multiple employees in the department contacted The Bee expressing alarm at the outbreak in the department. They said they wanted better cleaning and more enforcement of mask rules inside the building.

“They are not closing down for deep cleaning,” said one worker in the department who asked to remain anonymous. “Employees are scared.”

Somera said even as cases grew there seemed to be no urgency from the county to send people home or clean the office.

According to county data provided to The Bee, only 13 employees in the human assistance department tested positive for COVID-19 by mid September. However, Somera said there were 5 cases in the same office in the span of a few days this month.

“My concern with the Rancho Cordova bureau versus other bureaus is it holds maybe 50 people or so,” Somera said. “When you get 10 percent reporting in the last seven days contracting this virus it should be a concern.”

Finally, last week, Somera said he called the director of the personnel services department who assured him they planned to do a deep clean and offer free on-site testing for employees.

“I don’t know if it’s because of the phone call I put in on Friday that they’re now going to do this or if they were going to do this all along but it’s a step in the right direction,” Somera said. “It doesn’t take care of the issue because why didn’t they do this a week ago?”

COVID-19 and Halloween

Meanwhile, a looming cold and flu season could portend a more challenging future with winter weather approaching.

Sacramento County remains in the state’s coronavirus “red tier” this week, meaning it still has “substantial” spread, requiring some businesses to remain closed or open only partially.

County officials had wanted to qualify for “orange tier” status by Halloween, which would have allowed restaurants to expand from 25% to 50% allowed indoor seating, as well as expanding indoor operations at other service businesses.

But new data this week show that the county continues to trend in the right direction, with lower numbers of cases and hospitalizations.

As of Tuesday, county officials were reporting fewer than 100 new cases a day on average in the last two weeks, down substantially from peak days that saw more than 300 new cases in mid-summer.

The number of COVID-19 patients in county hospitals was hovering at 80, after dropping from a summertime peak in late July of 281 patients, straining hospitals and their staff.

Those trends follow similar statewide trends. California’s current infection rate is 2.4%, the ninth-best in the country. Sacramento County’s infection rate has dropped as well to 2.4% after hitting 8% in summer.

But county health chief Beilenson warned that California’s current positive trends stand in contrast to what is happening in most of the rest of the country, where the number of cases is hitting new record highs.

Health officials continue to warn of the potential of an increase in cases this fall and winter as people spend more time indoors, where the virus spreads more easily.

Officials are concerned as well, though, about virus spread during holiday outdoor events. The governor’s top health officials are discouraging people from door-to-door trick-or-treating this Halloween.

Taking a slightly different stance from the governor, Sacramento County officials, say they are not telling people to avoid the traditional Halloween activity, but have issued guidelines on how to do it differently this year, with more social distancing, including doing from behind a table in front yards or driveways.

Bee staff writer Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks contributed to this report.