The Kern County Public Health Department addressed the local stay-at-home order during their COVID-19 briefing on Monday following an announcement over the weekend that the order would be rescinded.
The department said the decision comes from Governor Gavin Newsom's statement on Friday that the state was days, not weeks away from lifting the stay at home order. Officials stressed that the local emergency order is still in place so right now, not much has changed. Non-essential businesses must remain closed, and residents must still adhere to the governor's stay at home order.
The Board of Supervisors voted on April 21st for a new ad hoc committee that will be in charge of creating best practices for businesses to reopen. Public health also announced another new testing site in Oildale will open on Wednesday.
According to health officials, 592 patients have now recovered from the virus and currently, there are 1,026 positive cases in the county, 10 of those cases are non-residents. Eight people have died as a result of the virus and just over 7,300 test results have come back negative.
Public health has also added a new breakdown of cases to their website regarding race and gender. Hispanics make up for 66% of local positive cases; 18% are white, 5% are Asian, and 2% are African-American. The remainder of cases are listed as "other" or "unknown." In regards to sex, 53% of local cases are male and 47% are female.
Kern County Public Health Services also updated the tracker to allow visitors to view cases by zip code.
