March 5 COVID-19 Update

Here is the latest on what you can do to protect yourself from COVID-19, what we are doing at Kaweah Health to keep patients safe, and other related activities in Tulare County and throughout the State. Get information on masks, testing, prevention and more.

Statewide

Governor declares state of emergency: Yesterday, Gov. Newsom declared a state of emergency, making additional resources available and laying groundwork to help the state prepare for broader spread of COVID-19.

House and Senate pass federal spending package: The House and Senate have passed an $8.3 billion spending bill that includes $400 million for state grants, some of which will be available to hospitals to combat COVID-19. The bill still needs to be signed by the President.

At Kaweah Health

Tulare County public health officials are asking Kaweah Health, along with other area hospitals, to begin testing people who meet the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention criteria for novel coronavirus. We will remain vigilant in our efforts to keep our staff, patients and visitors safe following the CDC’s guidelines for collecting, handling, and testing clinical specimens from persons under investigation for COVID-19. We continue limiting face masks to patients (for more information on masks, click HERE) and have asked our community to visit patients only when they are well. We will provide you with updates as we have them.

Tulare County

There remains no evidence of an infection of COVID-19 in Tulare County, according to the Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency. For updates from TCHHSA on the number of individuals in the county being self monitored, click HERE (site updated two times a week). The county has the ability to test locally; test results are typically available within 24-48.

Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention continue to stress the following everyday actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, which include:

• Handwashing
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
• Covering coughs
• Cleaning and disinfecting objects and surfaces.
• And more.

We will continue to provide updates on COVID-19 activities as we know more.