C a l i f o r n i a ’ s O l d e s t N e w s pa p e r – E s t. 18 51
EL DORADO
CENSUS 202
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Volume 169 • Issue 40 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
Monday, April 6, 2020
COUNTS
Most COVID-19 cases in South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado Hills
See page 6. BE COUNTED , BECAUSE W E ALL MATTE
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Dylan Svoboda Staff writer
The number of coronavirus cases in El Dorado County has increased to 19. County health officials reported one additional case Thursday evening. After initially withholding most COVID19 case information, the county has moved to provide patients’ area of residence, age, gender and cause of transmission. Currently there are seven cases in South Lake Tahoe, four cases in El Dorado Hills, Graphic courtesy of El Dorado County Health and Human Services three cases in both the greater Placerville
and Shingle Springs/ Latrobe areas and two cases in the north county. No cases in Camino, Pollock Pines, Diamond Springs, El Dorado or the south county have been reported as of Thursday evening. The county didn’t provide specific ages of the individuals but gave ranges. Ten n
See COVid-19 cases, page 3
Court orders temporary halt of residential evictions n Directive seeks to
prevent more homeless Pat Lakey Staff writer Because forcing tenants who are pastdue on paying rent — or kicking them out for any reason — could result in some becoming homeless and therefore a threat to the entire community because of the coronavirus, at the urging of El Dorado County Sheriff John D’Agostini the presiding judge of the local Superior Courts, Suzanne Kingsbury, Wednesday issued a directive to postpone all evictions through May 31. The Sheriff ’s Office, which reports it has 10 active eviction cases pending, already had directed deputies not to go forward with scheduled action in four of those cases, said D’Agostini in a letter dated March 26 to Judge Kingsbury. The sheriff said based on previous emergency declarations from the governor and from El Dorado County health officials his deputies did not enforce evictions previously scheduled to occur March 18 and 19 and March 25 and 26. D’Agostini outlines his reasoning in the letter to Presiding Judge Kingsbury, who posted the order Wednesday delaying all such evictions within the county. The Sheriff ’s Office performs evictions throughout the entire county area, including within the cities of Placerville and South Lake Tahoe. In the letter seeking a suspension of evictions, the sheriff writes, “I … believe that staying evictions for a short duration is in the overall best interest (of the county) and consistent in nature with the directive … to shelter in place, limiting potential exposure and spread”
Democrat photos by Krysten Kellum
Jeff Dreher, left, and Richard Pesce with the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office, along with Kim Dawson, clerk of the Board of Supervisors, seated, facilitate Thursday’s virtual meeting of the board on COVID-19 Emergency Homeless Funding in an otherwise empty meeting room. Attending the meeting was discouraged in observance of pandemic social distancing protocol.
Supes hold virtual meeting
Funds approved to shelter at-risk homeless during COVID-19 crisis Dylan Svoboda Staff writer El Dorado County homeless service providers have been awarded more than $200,000 to protect and serve local homeless individuals amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The grants are among the $100 million the state gave to local jurisdictions and other service providers last month for homeless services. The El Dorado County Health and Human Services Agency was awarded $109,909 while the county’s Continuum of Care received $119,463.
County officials are set to spend the funds on housing at-risk and COVID-19-positive homeless folks as well as providing services on-site. During a virtual Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday, with county officials and residents “social distancing” by participating through phone and Zoom, District 1 Supervisor John Hidahl indicated that the county intends to use the funds to house local homeless individuals in county hotel and motel rooms. Discussions on specific sites are ongoing, Hidahl added. n
See Virtual meeting, page 12
County officials and residents participated in the meeting from home using Zoom video communications software.
See No evictions, page 11
n
Caring with caution
Preschool teachers on the job keep heroes at work Sel Richard Staff writer
The Gift of Kids teacher Margarita Skelton pushes Maya Quintana on the scooter toy during some outdoor time at the El Dorado Hills day care and preschool, which, like many others, has stayed open to help working parents. Extra precautions have been taken to protect the children, teachers and parents/caregivers during the COVID-19 crisis.
While residents hunker down following statewide shelter-in-place orders, there are those who risk their own safety to get the community through the current COVID-19 pandemic … and there are those who are caring for these heroes’ children. While healthcare professionals, firefighters, law enforcement and other essential employees are on the job, daycare/preschool teachers are in the classrooms. The Gift of Kids owner Jennifer Tommasini is operating her El Dorado Hills daycare/preschool at one-third capacity but her doors remain open. She said she laid off 23 teachers out of her original staff of 34. “I had just enough teachers who knew
Photo courtesy of The Gift of Kids
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the risk and decided they wanted to stay open with me,” she said of her skeleton crew. “Financially it’s been hard because we’ve had to spend all this extra money when we don’t have any extra money,” Tommasini said in regards to extra supplies such as cleaning products. “I had to pay $800 just (for) hand sanitizers.” To help with lost tuition revenue, she has asked parents to meet her halfway voluntarily. “Parents are scared,” she said. “A lot of parents have lost their jobs and they don’t know their own financial situation.” Although Tommasini was nervous about being able to stay open, she is cautiously hopeful about her facility’s future. She
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See Preschool teachers, page 11
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