AUBURN, Calif. — Placer County yesterday fell off the state’s County Data Monitoring List for COVID-19, with the rate of new positive cases in the county now dipping below that state monitoring metric.

If Placer County remains off the list for at least 14 days, K-12 schools could potentially reopen for in-person instruction. However, no other businesses would be allowed to modify their operations until the state modifies the state order.

The Placer County Board of Supervisors and Health Officer Dr. Aimee Sisson have made requests that the state order be revised to allow affected businesses to resume indoor operations once a county has been off the monitoring list for two weeks, consistent with school guidance.

The state reports on its COVID-19 website that it is reassessing the order and will provide updates in the coming week.

“This is great news. I think our residents are doing a good job, and we still have to do what we can to slow the spread of COVID-19,” said Board Chair and District 1 Supervisor Bonnie Gore. “We don’t want people to get sick. We don’t want to see people in our hospitals. And we do want to see our business community open safely.”

Local health officials continue to urge Placer residents to follow the recommended precautions so that the county’s case rate and other metrics continue to meet state thresholds. That includes using a face covering when in public, maintaining physical distance, avoiding gatherings, staying home if sick and regular hand-washing.

At a special meeting Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors heard from a panel of scientists and physicians offering perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic and recommended actions to balance limiting the impacts of COVID-19 with avoiding other economic and social consequences.

The panelists included Dr. Michael Levitt, professor of structural biology at Stanford University; Dr. John Ioannidis, professor of medicine, epidemiology and population health at Stanford University; Dr. Julie Parsonnet, professor of medicine, infectious diseases and population health at Stanford University, who is also overseeing Placer County’s COVID-19 seroprevalence study; Dr. Phil Magness, senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research; Harry Weis, president and CEO of Tahoe Forest Health System; Dr. Genevieve Sweet, urology specialist with Sutter Health in Roseville; Dr. Ranjani Kalyan, an infectious disease specialist in Roseville affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area; and Roseville psychiatrist Dr. Melanie Trowbridge, associate professor of psychology at William Jessup University.

Video of the panel discussion is available here: https://youtu.be/5UYnfr541ho