City of West Sacramento

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Isolation Health Order
Health Order (Only): English 
Attachment: Home Isolation Instructions: English  |  Español  |  русский

Quarantine Health Order
Health Order (Only): English 
Attachment: Home Isolation Instructions: English  |  Español  |  русский

(Woodland, CA) – Effective immediately, the Yolo County Health Officer has issued a mass isolation order and a mass quarantine order. The isolation order requires all individuals with a positive COVID-19 test to comply with isolation health requirements for the length of their infection (known as the infection period). The quarantine order requires all individuals who have been in close contact with a positive COVID-19 individual to comply with quarantine health requirements. This order is intended to curb the recent increase in COVID-19 cases that has been seen both locally and across the State of California to prevent the spread of illness, and will complement extensive ongoing efforts to obtain voluntary compliance through education and guidance. 

Over the past four weeks, Yolo County has seen a significant increase in COVID-19 cases due to family gatherings as well as interactions amongst a cross section of industries. In response, the County has increased testing and contact tracing efforts to ensure that individuals with COVID-19 are notified and directed to isolate for so long as they remain infectious and those who have been in close contact with a COVID-19 positive individual to quarantine. Self-isolation and quarantining are extremely important in curbing the spread of COVID-19 because a person with COVID-19 can easily infect others they interact with, such as friends, families and coworkers. For this reason, compliance with COVID-19 isolation and quarantine requirements is vital. Unfortunately, in recent weeks County staff have identified instances where voluntary compliance with these requirements has not been adhered. This hinders contact tracing efforts and threatens the overall health and safety of the community.

Also hindering case investigation and contact tracing efforts is the delay in receiving test results. Because the current turnaround time for test results has been prolonged, Public Health often receives positive test results after a patient’s isolation period will have already been completed. As part of this mass isolation order, the County is also releasing instructions for isolation and quarantine that will be provided at various testing sites and also available on the County’s website at http://covidtesting.yolocounty.org. These instructions will allow a person with symptoms or who is a close contact to a COVID-positive case to begin isolation or quarantine before even receiving test results. This pro-active action will help curb the spread of COVID-19 from a potentially infectious person before they even receive their results.

The Yolo County Health Officer mass isolation order will focus on those residents who have already received their test result. This order requires all individuals with a lab confirmed positive COVID-19 test to comply with self-isolation instructions for their infectious period. The period of isolation for those without symptoms is 10 days from the date of a positive test. The isolation period for those with symptoms is at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms and at least 24 hours since recovery (meaning resolution of both fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and the improvement of cough and shortness of breath, if present).

Under the isolation order, COVID-19 positive individuals are required to do the following:

• Isolate themselves in their home or another residence for 10 days. They may not leave their place of isolation or enter any other public or private place, except to receive necessary medical care or during an emergency that requires evacuation to protect the health and safety of the person.
• Tell their close contacts that they need to quarantine themselves. Close contacts of an individual who has COVID-19 are persons who, during the individual’s infectious period, were within six feet of the individual for 15 minutes or longer The infectious period commences 48 hours before symptoms began (or, in the absence of symptoms, 48 hours before the date of administration of a positive test) and ends when the isolation period is over.
• Carefully review and follow the “Home Isolation Instructions” posted at http://covidtesting.yolocounty.org (and included in the order). The individual should also refer their close contacts to follow these instructions.

The mass quarantine order is directed at residents who have had close contact with a positive COVID-19 individual. Close contacts are required to do the following:

• Stay in their home or another residence for 14 days from the last date that they were in contact with the case.  Persons are required to quarantine themselves for the entirety of the 14-day incubation period because they are at high risk of developing and spreading COVID-19.  They may not leave their place of isolation or enter any other public or private place, except to receive necessary medical care or during an emergency that requires evacuation to protect the health and safety of the person.
• Carefully review and follow the “Home Quarantine Instructions” posted at http://covidtesting.yolocounty.org  (and included in the order).
• Health workers and first responder agency workers, may exempt from quarantining if they inform their employer, are showing no symptoms, and the employer determines they are needed at work based on staffing need.

In an effort to protect the health of the community, individuals that do not comply with the isolation and quarantine requirements under the orders may be subject to penalties including citation. Prior to the use of any enforcement measures, efforts will focus on providing education, resources and/or guidance to that individual on compliance.

Additional information about isolation and quarantine requirements are available through the County’s Isolation and Quarantine Education Toolkit. This toolkit provides detailed information on isolation and quarantine requirements, preventative measures, and a list of resources. The toolkit will be provided at various testing sites in Yolo County and is also publicly available online at http://covidtesting.yolocounty.org. For details about the County’s re-opening as well as state and local guidelines, visit Yolo County’s Roadmap to Recovery page at: www.yolocounty.org/coronavirus-roadmap. Residents can also call Yolo 2-1-1 for resource information. For additional updates follow Yolo County on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/YoloCounty/ or Twitter at: http://twitter.com/YoloCountyCA.

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