IMPERIAL COUNTY, CA- On Friday, August 28, 2020, the State of California unveiled the new Blueprint for a Safer Economy for reducing COVID-19. Along with the new blueprint, the State introduced revised criteria for loosening and tightening restriction on activities, as well as a tiered, color-coded system, which will guide movement from tier to tier.

IMPERIAL COUNTY, CA – The Imperial County Public Health Department and Imperial Valley College announced today that the Alternate Care Site (ACS) that was established at the college campus in response to a COVID-19 surge in patients has transitioned to a “warm” status. A limited amount of equipment will remain through December of this year in case there is a need to reopen the facility for services once again. Last week, staff consolidated the facility to maintain only essential items inside the gym. A contracted vendor will be conducting a thorough cleaning and disinfection of the College Center this week as part of the transition activities. The medical staff that had been operating the ACS has been deployed to other areas of the State where they are needed. Since it opened on May 25th, the ACS provided services to 213 patients. Janette Angulo, Public Health Department Director, stated, “We are grateful for the wonderful partnership we have with Imperial Valley College which allowed the County to use the college Gym for establishing the ACS. Dr. Martha Garcia and the IVC staff have been a fantastic partner in this response and we are deeply grateful for their support as well as that of the State of California.” “Imperial Valley College and the County have a solid partnership and are committed to serve the needs of this community as best as possible. This collaboration reflects one of many examples of that relationship,” said Garcia, IVC Superintendent/President. “The college is ready to continue to serve the community as deemed necessary. We are thankful to everyone that contributed to providing these medical services locally, especially the Imperial County Public Health Department.” The gym and the College Center continue to be closed to students as IVC’s fall semester is being offered mostly online with a few career education hybrid offerings. The Alternate Care Site was established in an effort to respond to a surge of patients requiring hospitalization. The ACS was operated jointly by the State of California and the County of Imperial and staffed by California Medical Assistance Teams (CAL-MAT). For questions or information about COVID-19 and precautions currently recommended by the Imperial County Public Health Department, the community may call the Department’s information line at (442) 265-6700 or access its website at www.icphd.org.

The California Department of Public Health has announced that they are experiencing technology issues with the electronic laboratory reporting system reporting in to the State’s disease surveillance database (CalREDIE). The CalREDIE database is used to manage COVID-19 data for the State of California.

Imperial County Public Health officials received notification from State of California officials that they are in concurrence with the13-point plan developed by County Officials as part of their ongoing efforts to mitigate the local impacts of COVID-19 and to promote the health and safety of residents and visitors of Imperial County. As a result, the Imperial County Health Officer has issued an amended health order supporting those strategies.

The Imperial County Public Health Department shared this week that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is deploying a team to Imperial County to provide support for contact tracing, binational case investigations, hospital infection prevention and control and reporting, data management, and planning. The CDC team will consist of five staff, including epidemiologists and others. Some of the team members arrived earlier in the week, while others will be arriving today.