COVID-19 update for the County of Ventura as of May 11, 2020
Testing: No cost COVID-19 testing is available for all community members at two state testing sites. Please register by calling 1-888-634-1123 or online at https://lhi.care/covidtesting. Hours of operation: Monday through Friday 8 am to 8 pm. The sites are located at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center at 800 Hobson Way in Oxnard, CA 93030 and at the Thousand Oaks Library – Newbury Park Branch, 2331 Borchard Road, Newbury Park, CA 91320.
Stage 2: On Friday, May 8 the County of Ventura reached an important turning point for our community, County and local economy. We have now moved to Stage 2 of 4 on the State of California’s roadmap to reopening where some lower-risk workplaces can gradually open with adaptations. This allows for retail businesses to use curbside pickup or delivery to sell their goods and related manufacturing and logistics businesses to open. More than 400 businesses have already registered to reopen! Learn more at www.vcreopens.com. Learn more about the State’s Roadmap at: https://covid19.ca.gov/roadmap/.
Rumor Alert: There is a rumor that the County of Ventura is removing positive covid patients from their homes. That is not true. If a person cannot safely isolate at home and they would like an alternative location then a different location is offered. View a clip from our Public Health Director Rigo Vargas on this topic:
Here’s a statement from our Public Health Officer Doctor Robert Levin – “What I would like to say to those people who interpreted what I said as forcibly pulling people from their homes if they become COVID positive is that if I conveyed that, it was a mistake on my part and I apologize for that. I am sensitive to that as well. We have no intention of taking people from the environments they feel safe and comfortable in. To demonstrate our past actions, because they speak louder than words, we have managed over 600 people in our county with COVID-19 and we have not forcibly removed anyone from their home or wherever they wanted to be. We have removed about 7 of our seniors who were living in Long Term Care Facilities (LTCF) and had them admitted to one of our hospitals. This was to protect the other seniors and to observe those hospitalized for worsening of their symptoms. If COVID establishes itself in a LTCF (a nursing home), it can kill dozens as it did in Washington State. We also placed two homeless people who were COVID positive in a motel because they wanted to return to a crowded camp in the river bottom. Virtually everyone wants to stay in their home. It is safest when such a person can have their own room and bathroom but many of our COVID cases have not been so fortunate. When that is the case, our Communicable Disease nurses find ways of keeping them in their home such that it is still safe for the others who are there.” Resources
- Food: http://foodshare.com/covid19/
- Senior Services: https://www.vcaaa.org/covid-19/
- Unemployment assistance: https://www.vcemergency.com/resources
- Business resources: https://edcollaborative.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/EDC-COVID19-BUSINESS-RESOURCE-GUIDE.pdf
- Wellness: https://www.wellnesseveryday.org/coping-during-coronavirus
- Coping with stress: https://habits.vcbh.org/
- Support resources: https://www.ventura.org/departments/hsa/community-events/coronavirus-remote-resources/remote-resources-during-coronavirus/
- Frequently asked questions about the Stay Well VC Order: https://www.vcemergency.com/staywellvc/faqs-general
- Library Update: Ventura County Library is excited to announce the launch of Brainfuse – on demand, anytime, anywhere eLearning for all ages and levels. Brainfuse HelpNow offers a personalized homework help in core subjects (math, reading, writing, science and social studies). HelpNow is designed to be particularly helpful to school-aged students, with tools such as flashcards, learning games, customized study plans, writing help, and the opportunity for students to meet up with their friends in a virtual study room. HelpNow also includes a variety of college preparatory materials and lifelong learning resources such as a Spanish language study center and ESL assistance, as well as test preparation tools for the ACT/SAT, GED and the USCIS citizenship test. Brainfuse is just one of a number of remote educational tools that the Library has made available, enhanced, or continues to make available during its temporary closure to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. In addition to Brainfuse, the Library offers BookFlix (for remotely-accessible read alouds), CloudLibrary eBooks and eAudiobooks, and much more at www.vencolibrary.org/elibrary.
***7 cases provided a PO Box address that has been assigned to another zip code within the city.
****Population estimates for 2020 from www.healthmattersinvc.org (Demographics Dashboard).
Data Current as of 8:00 am on 5/11/2020 from CalREDIE