ROSEVILLE, Calif. — COVID-19 cases are spiking in Placer County, but the Board of Supervisors haven’t made any changes to their pandemic guidelines. At the Fountains shopping center, it’s business as usual. Shoppers are shopping and restaurants are serving.
Compared to other California Counties, the economy in Placer County looks to be more active than most. You wouldn’t know it by the looks of it, but Placer County is experiencing the highest COVID-19 spike since the start of the Pandemic. In November, the county's public health office reported more than 1,600 cases, which is 600 more than last month.
Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt along with other supervisors have had strong feelings about complying with state COVID-19 guidelines.
“Our sheriff has articulated, and I support him, that he won’t spend any resources for those kinds of mandates, those statewide mandates,” Weygandt said.
Supervisors do agree that people need to be safe and follow social distancing, but laws should not be put in place.
“From the very beginning, I’ve thought there is no policy that will stop the spread,” Weygandt said.
Not enforcing state mandates comes at a cost. In early November, a COVID-19 outbreak happened at a basketball tournament in Rockland at Courtside Basketball Center.
Supervisor Weygandt said business owners won’t be reprimanded or fined.
“People do know that that is a hot spot. They are intelligent and they can make decisions themselves,” Weygandt said.
Supervisor Weygandt did say that, if local health officials reported a shortage of hospital beds or other outbreak concerns, the Board of Supervisors would listen to their suggestions, but for now, it is business as usual in Placer county.
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