CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake City Manager Alan Flora, acting as the director of emergency services for the city of Clearlake, announced the reopening of Thompson Harbor at Redbud Park effective at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 9.

Friday’s announcement follows revisions to the Lake County Health officer’s order easing restrictions on access to Clear Lake for residents of Lake County.

The order does not apply to the Austin Park playground, basketball courts and skatepark, or the areas of Austin Park that are still currently under construction. These areas remain closed to the public.

No person shall enter any closed park or park area. No person shall remain in a closed park or closed area of a park after having been notified of the closure and having been requested to leave by any peace officer or other person so designated by the city manager or chief of police.

“The city is pleased to work cooperatively with the Public Health officer to provide additional recreation options for Lake County residents by reopening Thompson Harbor,” said Flora.

As a reminder, all motorized boats must exhibit the proper quagga mussel stickers and be currently registered, Flora said.

Lake County Water Resources ramp monitors will be at Thompson Harbor performing quagga inspections and selling resident stickers.

Everyone is asked to practice proper social distancing when launching boats.

“Please enjoy the great weather we are expecting this weekend in a safe and thoughtful manner,” Flora said.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is already showing itself in major ways in county government expenditures and revenue streams, according to a report to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

County Administrative Office staff along with Auditor-Controller/County Clerk Cathy Saderlund gave the board the update on the county’s COVID-19 disaster response expenses so far along with revenue expense concerns for the future during the board’s Tuesday afternoon session.

While counties everywhere are impacted by the pandemic, “There still is no county like Lake anywhere in the United States that has been impacted by disasters like we have year after year,” said County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson, reciting the litany of disasters beginning with the Valley fire in 2015, and continuing through other wildland fires, floods, the public safety power shutoffs and now the pandemic.

She credited Saderlund for her guidance and coaching of county staff and helping to keep the county “still standing.” Saderlund is helping the county navigate the “tricky” process of filing claims for reimbursement to the government, Huchingson said.

Saderlund presented to the board representative costs that have been identified as COVID-19. “These costs change rapidly, as I’m sure you know.”

She acknowledged that, as Huchingson said, the COVID-19 pandemic is different from previous disasters.

There is a presidential declaration for the COVID-19 pandemic, and the county has been working through the multiple layers of funding mechanisms and the triggers coming from many state agencies, Saderlund said.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Public Assistance funding is giving the county up to 75 percent reimbursement for response costs. Saderlund said that, other than one program, she doesn’t have confirmation from the California Office of Emergency Services that it will give an 18 percent reimbursement to the county to cover the other 25 percent.

She said the state has told her that it will not decide on reimbursements until the disaster is over, and it will be done on a county-by-county decision.

So far, the county has received two grants to address the homeless situation, including $79,511 to the Lake County Continuum of Care, which was advanced to the Hope Harbor warming shelter last month for around-the-clock operations. Another $73,152 is being administered by Lake County Behavioral Health.

Project Roomkey, which is providing funding to put homeless individuals into hotel rooms, requires extensive documentation. The state has offered the county $100,000 upfront to help cover its 25-percent portion, but Saderlund said they’ve received no funding to date.

The Restaurants Deliver Home Meals for Seniors Program is under consideration by local officials, but the county will have to pay for it upfront and seek reimbursement through grants. Saderlund said the county would have a 6-percent share if it can meet all of the reporting guidelines.

Saderlund said the Health Department has received or will soon receive three COVID-19 grants totaling $530,390 to cover salaries and benefits, equipment, supplies and indirect costs, supportive quarantine services and private nonprofit human services for emergency response.

Regarding the actual expenditures to date for COVID-19 response, which includes Public Health quarantine and isolation, Saderlund said that totals $249,147. For Project Roomkey, it’s $104,192. Total costs of resource supplies as of April 28, it’s $101,540.

The federally mandated paid leave, as of the county’s May 1 payroll, totals $284,077, she said. That’s 100-percent county cost, with no reimbursement.

Saderlund said the total transactions and encumbrances to date for COVID-19 are $738,957.

She also reported that of the 921 county employees on the May 1 payroll, 259 employees utilized the federally mandated leave. That accounts for 28 percent of the workforce and 5 percent of that total payroll amount.

Huchingson said that a rough estimate to provide masks to the public in county facilities – as required by board action approved earlier at that same meeting – is $48,000, which isn’t in Saderlund’s costs.

Social Services Director Crystal Markytan said the county has contracted with the Lamplighter Motel in Clearlake for rooms for high-risk homeless individuals under Project Roomkey. They have 15 rooms and now have 10 filled.

Staff reports on sales and property tax impacts

Huchingson said they’re also looking at long-term impacts to see how things develop. Her deputy, Stephen Carter, gave the board updates on key areas of concern, including sales and property tax revenue.

“Our general fund discretionary revenue is very reliant on sales tax collections,” said Huchingson.

Carter said the five-year average for the 1-percent sales tax is $2,726,000, the three-year average is $3,063,000, with $2,790,000 collected so far this fiscal year and two months still to go.

For the one-half percent sales tax that comes through Proposition 172, Carter said the five-year average is $3,032,000, the three-year average is $3,116,000 and year-to-date totals $2,612,000, with three months still not received.

Saderlund said the county’s general fund nondepartmental retail sales and use tax revenues are currently $409,000 under the estimate, with May and June remaining. Due to a delay in sales tax payments authorized by the governor, Saderlund said the county will face a cash flow issue.

Huchingson also discussed state “realignment” funding driven by state sales tax that is expected to “decrease significantly.” Those monies fund critical departments such as Public Health, Behavioral Health, a number of Social Services and public safety programs. The largest draw on the realignment funds is the In-Home Supportive Services program, one of the largest per-capita for a small county.

Until now, these programs have had sufficient funds to pay for these programs. If the revenues don’t come back, these programs would need to face cuts or look to the county’s general fund for support, said Huchingson.

“We’re aware of the concern,” said Markytan, who noted that there are so many things unknown at this time “that it is unsettling.”

Health Department Director Denise Pomeroy said they are monitoring the situation. She said funding has been coming down from the state to support pandemic response, and her department is not relying as much right now on realignment funding.

Another key revenue source for the county that Huchingson said is expected to be greatly impacted is transient occupancy tax, or bed tax, derived from hotels, motels and vacation rentals.

Carter said the five-year TOT average for the county is $595,500, the three-year average is $557,000, with year-to-date funding at $638,000, which Carter attributed to Tax Administrator Patrick Sullivan’s work to collect on vacation rentals.

Saderlund added of TOT funding, “It is pretty volatile and it does vary based on our collection efforts.”

Regarding property tax, an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom has allowed counties to consider economic hardship for struggling property owners, and the board previously adopted a resolution to allow a process to waive interest and penalties for those who can’t pay on time due to COVID-19 impacts.

Huchingson said property tax is the primary driver of the general fund revenues, and the impact of the waivers may delay general fund revenue. It makes up between 50 and 55 percent of discretionary revenues.

Carter said the general fund gets the bulk of property tax revenue, with other departments receiving a good-sized portion, including the library and road departments.

He said the five-year average is $24,264,000, the three-year average is $24,335,000, with $18,680,000 received so far this fiscal year.

Saderlund said that, because the county is in the Teeter Plan – which provides jurisdictions with 100-percent of assessed property tax value – the county’s property tax revenues won’t show a decrease because they are allocated on assessed value, not collections. However, she’s concerned that delayed payments will impact the Teeter Plan at some point.

For this fiscal year so far, secured collections are only 0.63 percent less than the same time last year. Saderlund said she will continue to watch it closely.

Huchingson said there also is the concern that another COVID-19 wave in the fall could impact December property tax payments.

Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said he doesn’t think the impact has hit everyone yet. “I think we need to brace ourselves for the impact to happen in the third and the fourth quarter and hopefully we can lessen that blow as much as possible.”

He said he’s also concerned about the Teeter Fund and defaulted property tax sales that originally were scheduled for this spring. Saderlund said she shares his concerns.

Concern for Interest income, pension liabilities

Staff then moved to interest income, which Huchingson said is a smaller but still important revenue source.

Carter said general fund-based interest revenue is $481,500 on a five-year average, the three-year average is $686,800 and $262,500 has been collected so far this year.

Saderlund said the county’s third-quarter interest for the 2019-20 fiscal year is 30 percent less than the previous year. She didn’t yet have information for the fourth quarter, but she anticipated it would look as “dismal,” if not more so.

Huchingson said the primary expenditure area of greatest concern is pension liability. When the stock market dropped early on in the pandemic disaster, CalPERS was hit very hard. While there has been some leveling off since then, it hasn’t fully recovered.

“The economy is very unstable,” said Huchingson.

During the Great Recession of 2008, when CalPERS had lower-than-anticipated returns in the stock market, participating agencies like Lake County were required to pay increased contributions over several years to come, Huchingson explained.

While CalPERS has indicated it is making adjustments and doing what it can to stabilize and fortify investments, and they are encouraging participating agencies not to panic yet, “We just don’t have sufficient information to make a lot of projections for you,” Huchingson said.

Carter, who took part in a recent CalPERS workshop on this topic, told the board that it’s highly likely the county will have to pay increased contributions over a five-year period and then a 10- to 20-year catch up.

“We can only do that so many times, so that’s something we need to watch carefully,” Carter said.

Saderlund said that, with the interest market and huge dips in investments in the CalPERS portfolio, “We know that we’re going to be impacted with our rates. There’s just absolutely no doubt there, and it will probably be on the same scale as what we’ve seen the last time we saw this come up.”

Sabatier asked staff for a quarterly report on the county’s investments, which are handled through the tax collector’s office.

Huchingson also reported that the economic development discussions that the board has planned to have with department heads – an agreed-upon outcome from a board workshop held earlier this year – will start taking place in June.

She said economic development has been a board priority long before the COVID-19 pandemic, and those discussions had been planned to start in April. Now, they will start on June 16, following the board’s consideration of the recommended budget on June 9.

Supervisor Rob Brown said that the pandemic is completely different from other disasters. In those previous events, there had been funding available for the county to respond and start to recover. He warned that it won’t be that way with the pandemic.

There won’t be an offset of good that comes with the bad, Brown said. “This is going to be bad that comes with the bad, so we just need to be prepared for that.”

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

This story has been updated with changes to the testing schedule reported by Lake County Public Health.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Next week, the Lake County Health Services Department’s Public Health Division – with the support of the city of Clearlake, Clearlake Police Department and Lake County Fire Protection District – will provide mobile COVID-19 sampling in Clearlake.

Sites will be open on Tuesday, May 12, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Wednesday, May 13, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Results should be back within 48 to 72 hours, according to Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace.

Pace said 50 to 75 people are expected to preregister per day for testing in a drive-thru setting. If more than that need the test on a given day, the most vulnerable will be prioritized. Pace said they will only be able to provide testing to people who have preregistered.

Despite limited staffing and a lack of immediate state or federal support, the Lake County Health Services Department was able to procure sufficient testing supplies and open a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site this week.

As of Thursday, May 7, 100 appointments had been scheduled, and 88 nasopharyngeal swabs had been performed in Lakeport. The remaining 12 appointments were either cancellations or no-shows.

“We would like to thank the city of Lakeport, Lakeport Police Department, and Lake County Fire Protection District for their support of this week’s successful mobile sampling site. We would especially like to thank all the county residents who participated and showed great patience with the screening and test collection process,” said Pace.

In addition to the mobile sampling the county has independently been able to implement, the Health Services Department has also received the governor’s approval for an independent sampling entity to operate within the county of Lake.

Project Baseline, a community testing initiative by Verily, will be in Lake County by the end of next week to assist in expanding testing.

While details of the county’s collaboration with Verily are still being worked out, Pace said the intention is to have a mobile site rotate among two to four sites around the lake and operate five to six days a week.

To get tested in Clearlake during the week of May 11, call 707-263-8174 to be transferred to a staff member for screening and registration.

Pace said additional details and testing opportunities will be announced as they are arranged.

Additional information and forms are posted on the Public Health website and more resources can be found at the Lake County Coronavirus Response Hub.

For more information, send an email request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call during business hours, 707-263-8174.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service is forecasting above-average temperatures through the weekend to be followed by chances of showers next week.

The agency issued a hazardous weather outlook for Lake County and other parts of northwest California through Wednesday due to temperatures that could range into the mid-90s on Friday and Saturday.

The Lake County forecast predicts light winds from Friday through Sunday, with daytime temperatures into the mid-80s and nighttime temperatures into the high 40s.

The warm temperatures through the weekend are to be followed by chances of rain from Monday through Wednesday.

The forecast predicts temperatures early next week will drop into the low 40s at night and the mid-60s by day.

By Thursday, sunny conditions will return, but temperatures will remain in the 60s during the day, according to the forecast.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Police Department urged community members to be on the lookout for counterfeit $100 bills.

The agency said that on Thursday its officers responded to a local grocery store on the report of counterfeit $100 bills negotiated at the check stands.

Officers located a number of counterfeit US $100 bills, all with the same serial number, LB45440078L, series 2009 A, the agency said.

“Please be vigilant for these and other counterfeit large denomination bills,” the agency said in a statement.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Lakeport Police Department at 707-263-5491, option 1, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has detected the state's first cases of a potentially crippling hoof disease in two Roosevelt elk from a resident herd in Del Norte County.

Treponeme-associated hoof disease, or TAHD, is commonly referred to as "elk hoof disease." It can cause deformed, overgrown and otherwise damaged hooves.

The lesions and resulting deformities are painful and lead to limping, lameness and even death as observed in other states. When the disease is severe, elk may become too weak to graze, fight off other infections or escape predators.

TAHD was first identified in elk from Washington state in the 1990s, but much remains unknown about the disease. Currently, there is no known cure or vaccination.

TAHD has been documented in elk in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Recent detections in Oregon's Douglas County were previously the closest to California.

TAHD gets its name from a bacterium, Treponema sp., that is associated with this disease, but other pathogens also may play a role. Scientists at Washington State University who are experienced with TAHD confirmed the disease in the two Roosevelt elk from Del Norte County.

It is unknown what impact TAHD may have on elk populations in California or other states. California is home to three subspecies of elk - Rocky Mountain elk, Roosevelt elk and tule elk – that together inhabit approximately 25 percent of the state. In other states, both Rocky Mountain and Roosevelt elk have contracted TAHD. To date, there are no known cases of TAHD among tule elk.

While the disease appears to be highly infectious among elk, there is no evidence that it affects humans. Still, hunters who harvest an elk exhibiting signs of deformed or damaged hooves should exercise caution and practice safe hygiene when processing, cooking and consuming the meat. Hunters also are encouraged to submit hoof samples to CDFW from suspect elk.

CDFW will be working with natural resource agencies in other western states and academic partners to increase surveillance for TAHD in California, plan management actions and facilitate research.

The general public can assist CDFW's efforts by reporting any elk that appears to be limping, lame or have abnormal hooves via CDFW's Wildlife Investigations Lab disease and mortality reporting website.

Additional information on elk hoof disease is available at the following link.

* Washington State University's website on TAHD:
www.vmp.vetmed.wsu.edu/research/elk-hoof-disease 

* Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's website on TAHD:
www.wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/diseases/elk-hoof 

* Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's fact sheet on TAHD:
www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/health_program/docs/elkhoofdiseasefactsheetfinal.pdf

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said it has arrested the owner of Main Street Bicycles in Lakeport as the result of an ongoing child pornography investigation.

Jeffery Scott Cramer, 58, of Lakeport, was arrested on Thursday morning, according to Lt. Corey Paulich.

At 11 a.m. Thursday Lake County Sheriff’s detectives served search warrants at Main Street Bicycles and at a residence on Seventh Street in Lakeport, Paulich said.

Paulich said the warrants were related to a child pornography investigation that has been ongoing for the past several months.

In January detectives received information that they were able to link to both locations as being used to upload pornographic images of children, Paulich said.

Through the investigation, Paulich said detectives believed the individual responsible was Cramer.

Paulich said the detectives were able to identify social media accounts associated with Cramer that had been used to uploaded child pornography on at least five occasions between August 2019 and February 2020.

Detectives seized digital devices from both locations on Thursday, Paulich said Detectives believe that additional evidence will be located on the devices once they are searched.

Cramer has been a coach for high school mountain biking teams at Clear Lake and Kelseyville high schools, as Lake County News has reported.

“At this time there is no information linking this investigation with the schools,” Paulich told Lake County News.

Cramer was booked at the Lake County Jail for the possession and sending of child pornography. On Thursday afternoon he remained in custody with bail set at $30,000, Paulich said.

The sheriff’s office is asking anyone who may have information related to this investigation to contact Det. Todd Dunia at 707-262-4232 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace said in a Wednesday night statement that Clear Lake could reopen to local residents this weekend, but that social distancing and other measures must remain in place if restrictions are to continue to be loosened.

“Unless there is a significant change in COVID-19 activity that must preclude the possibility, I expect Clear Lake and its public boat ramps will once again be open to the public Saturday, May 9, allowing lake use by residents to resume, while observing social distancing,” Pace said.

Ramp monitoring for the quagga mussel program will likewise resume, said Pace, adding that more detail will be provided later this week.

“Even though the lake will be open, now is not the time to visit Lake County,” Pace said.

Pace said the changes are part of the county’s efforts to align with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s changes to his statewide stay-at-home order and the beginning of stage two of COVID-19 recovery.

Gov. Newsom is expected to issue new orders – possibly as early as Thursday – and Pace said Lake County will align with those orders.

Newsom said this week that while the state is moving into stage two together, he will allow regional variation in that counties can move more quickly through the second stage if they can attest that they meet the state’s readiness criteria.

Since March 19, Lake County has been under a shelter in place order issued by Pace. Last week, Pace updated his order to last until May 17.

Pace has issued several addendums to the original order. One of the updates, which came out on March 22, closed down Clear Lake – as well as vacation rentals, hotels and motels – following a weekend in which Pace said the county saw an influx of visitors.

“The risk of a devastating surge in Lake County was significant, and Clear Lake was serving as a magnet, drawing activity that threatened public health,” Pace said.

On April 23, Pace began to allow fishing from Clear Lake’s shorelines. Last week, along with extending the shelter in place order until mid-month, Pace loosened some restrictions on the use of the lake, including allowing fishing from nonmotorized boats – excluding sailboats.

“I have been encouraged that social distancing practices have generally been observed, and we have not seen a related rise in local infections,” said Pace.

Lake County so far has eight confirmed COVID-19 cases – six of which are recovered – and Pace said there has been less evidence of community spread in the county than had been anticipated.

“While multiple infections within households have been documented, we have not seen geographic pockets of significant community viral activity. Raw sewage has been tested, and the most recent results seem to indicate a positive trend,” said Pace.

He added, “Now, with the economy reeling, and true human costs associated with cessation of normal activities and isolation mounting, it is time to take additional steps to move forward, and do so safely.”

Pace said that, in time for Mother’s Day, low-risk retail businesses such as florists, clothing stores, booksellers, home goods stores and sporting equipment stores, and the manufacturing and supply chain businesses that support them, are expected to be allowed to reopen on a limited basis as part of the state’s stage two of recovery. Retail stores are expected to offer curbside delivery.

While the shelter in place order remains in effect, Pace said nonessential travel will remain restricted and, with that, hotels will remain closed except in limited circumstances. He said an exemption process will remain in place to ensure lodging is provided only for permitted and essential purposes.

Pace said many businesses will remain closed, including both indoor and outdoor dining at restaurants. To-go orders will stay the norm for a while longer.

If Newsom’s directives aren’t what the county expects, Pace said he will have to revise the county’s plans. He said local orders can be more restrictive but not less than those issued by the state.

“If we see a surge in cases in Lake County, or the state experiences a significant uptick, we may have to go back to greater restrictions. The governor has described this process as likely to include some ‘toggling’ back and forth, loosening and retightening of restrictions, as opposed to reopening being a ‘switch’ that can be flipped,” Pace said.

As restrictions are loosened, Pace said it’s essential that people continue to maintain social distancing and good hygiene.

He strongly recommends people wear masks when out in public and that vulnerable populations – those over age 65 and individuals with chronic medical conditions – should continue to stay safe at home.

People also are urged not to cross county lines, since this is an important way that the virus spreads, Pace said.

Read Pace’s full statement here.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

State officials on Wednesday launched an interactive website to help Californians find COVID-19 community testing sites near them.

The new site allows Californians to quickly search for testing sites by current location, address, city or zip code and schedule an appointment.

It also features an interactive map of testing sites across the state.

The testing locator website features community testing locations, including sites operated by Verily and OptumServe, which are open to Californians who meet current testing guidelines.

Testing is free for all individuals, including those who are uninsured or undocumented. Individual testing results are confidential.

“As testing continues to ramp up at a rapid pace across the state, we want to make sure Californians know how to schedule an appointment, which can easily be done online for many locations,” said Dr. Charity Dean, assistant director of the California Department of Public Health and co-chair of the California COVID-19 Testing Task Force. “With the launch of new community testing sites and significantly expanded testing criteria, more Californians will be tested – and in locations much closer to their homes.”

One goal of the Testing Task Force is to ensure that more than 90 percent of Californians are within 60 minutes driving distance of COVID-19 testing sites.

“We are taking another crucial step toward helping to solve this unprecedented public health crisis – ensuring Californians have access to testing and knowing where the nearest testing sites are located in their community,” said Paul Markovich, president and CEO of Blue Shield of California and co-chair of the Testing Task Force. “Our public-private collaboration in tackling the pandemic continues to make a difference in delivering the results California deserves.”

To date, Verily has launched eight testing locations statewide, and a total of 80 OptumServe sites will be launched by next week in 36 counties. The California COVID-19 Testing Task Force worked with county leaders statewide to identify appropriate testing sites with a focus on underserved communities in both rural and urban areas.

The testing locator application was designed for California by Esri, a mapping and location analytics company, in collaboration with GIS Corps, which is mapping community test sites.

“Using a map to help Californians locate and access testing sites near their current location is critical to ensuring those who need testing will receive it as quickly as possible,” said Amy Leung, Technical Consultant with Esri. “Esri is proud to provide mapping and location intelligence for the State of California’s ongoing response to the pandemic and for the COVID-19 Testing Task Force.”

For more information about testing and preventing the spread of COVID-19, visit www.covid19.ca.gov .

Additional resources

California Testing Task Force: http://testing.covid19.ca.gov

Esri: www.esri.com/en-us/home

GIS Corps: www.giscorps.org

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Library is currently closed to the public due to the shelter in place order and to assist community efforts in limiting the spread of COVID-19.

With libraries and schools closed, parents might be looking for ways to occupy their home-bound children. The library can help.

Online library services to both entertain and inform children and teens continue while the physical branches of the Lake County Library are closed. With a library card, patrons can access the library’s array of digital services without the need to visit a local branch.

If you need a library card, you can create an online card with the application form on the library website. If you have a question about an existing library account, call 707-263-8817 and leave a message. Library staff will be available by phone during normal operating hours to assist with the digital resources.

The library website is http://library.lakecountyca.gov . Go to the website and click Digital Content to see all the digital services available.

To entertain and inform kids, the library offers a variety of online services that require nothing more than a library card to access. On Hoopla you can activate kids mode by signing in and then clicking Kids. Hoopla has movies, television shows, music and audiobooks for kids.

On Libby or on the Overdrive website you can find kids’ content by clicking the Kids tab at the top. Libby by Overdrive has ebooks, audiobooks and special read along books.

Creativebug’s many classes include arts and crafts designed for children to do.

For children and teens the library also offers three online services ABCmouse, Britannica, and TeachingBooks.

ABCmouse.com is the leading and most comprehensive fun digital learning resource for children ages 2 through 8. Britannica School and Britannica Escolar are both educational sites for students to use for homework help, projects, or learning at home or at the library.

TeachingBooks.net is a multimedia website that generates enthusiasm for books and reading with engaging author programs and K-12 book resources for children and teens.

Patrons can check out ABCmouse accounts for home use on their computers or devices. The award-winning ABCmouse.com curriculum, created by Age of Learning, Inc., is designed to help young children ages 2 through 8 and beyond build a strong foundation for future academic success. ABCmouse.com is 100 percent educational, with more than 8,500 learning activities across all major subject areas-reading, math, science, social studies, art, and music. ABCmouse is one effective early learning resource that’s available for you to check out from the library and use with your children at home.

When you check out an ABCmouse account from the library with Bring Learning Home, you will get full access to ABCmouse from the convenience of your home or anywhere you have an internet connection. You will also have access to the Assessment Center, which allows you to track your child’s progress in key early literacy and math skills over time. Funding for the ABCmouse Bring Learning Home program was provided by Doug & Laurie Dohring, Bell Haven Resort.

Britannica School and Britannica Escolar are both educational sites for students to use for homework help, projects, or learning at home or at the library.

Britannica School is the go-to site for research – the core of any inquiry learning model – offering thousands of up-to-date, curated, and curriculum-relevant articles, images, videos, audio clips, primary sources, maps, research tools, recommended Web sites, and three separate databases. Britannica Escolar is the leading knowledge-building resource that is universally trusted for accurate and age-appropriate content in Spanish.

Choose from two or three levels of learning – Elementary, Middle, and High School – for a wealth of unique content to explore. Select an article and adjust its complexity with a single click while maintaining the age-appropriate look – ideal for classes of students at multiple reading levels! Read-aloud functionality and a font size changer are just a few of the features specifically helpful for students with special needs.

Nonfiction, cross-curricular content in Britannica School is updated daily by the editorial team with new and revised articles and multimedia – at least 1,200 entries per month – to keep users informed and engaged. Britannica offers accurate, up-to-date content aligned to the common core and state standards.

Use handy how-to-conduct-research tools to build essential information literacy skills. Group together related content types for activities or projects using the easy-to-use Content Collector. For educators, review and adapt ready-made lessons on various subjects or create your own with the intuitive Lesson Plan Builder. Access to Britannica School and Escolar is provided by the California State Library.

TeachingBooks is a dynamic, PreK–12 reading and library service that strives to deepen everyone's connections to the books they are reading. With 170,000+ engaging video, audio, and online resources, TeachingBooks brings to life the books that are enjoyed in your community.

TeachingBooks is a database of resources for children's and young adult books and their authors and illustrators. Use TeachingBooks to search titles, authors and illustrators, and find resources to engage readers. The resource collection includes short movies, audio book readings, book discussion guides, and more.

Access to TeachingBooks.net is provided for Lake County Library by the California State Library in conjunction with Riverside COE.

Jan Cook is a library technician with the Lake County Library.

 

Blood tests that check for exposure to the coronavirus are starting to come online, and preliminary findings suggest that many people have been infected without knowing it. Even people who do eventually experience the common symptoms of COVID-19 don’t start coughing and spiking fevers the moment they’re infected.

William Petri is a professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of Virginia who specializes in infectious diseases. Here, he runs through what’s known and what isn’t about asymptomatic cases of COVID-19.

How common is it for people to contract and fight off viruses without knowing it?

In general, having an infection without any symptoms is common. Perhaps the most infamous example was Typhoid Mary, who spread typhoid fever to other people without having any symptoms herself in the early 1900s.

My colleagues and I have found that many infections are fought off by the body without the person even knowing it. For example, when we carefully followed children for infection by the parasite Cryptosporidia, one of the major causes of diarrhea, almost half of those with infections showed no symptoms at all.

In the case of the flu, estimates are that anywhere from 5% to 25% of infections occur with no symptoms.

For the most part, symptoms are actually a side effect of fighting off an infection. It takes a little time for the immune system to rally that defense, so some cases are more aptly considered presymptomatic rather than asymptomatic.

How can someone spread coronavirus if they aren’t coughing and sneezing?

Everyone is on guard against the droplets that spray out from a coronavirus patient’s cough or sneeze. They’re a big reason public health officials have suggested everyone should wear masks.

But the virus also spreads through normal exhalations that can carry tiny droplets containing the virus. A regular breath may spread the virus several feet or more.

Spread could also come from fomites – surfaces, such as a doorknob or a grocery cart handle, that are contaminated with the coronavirus by an infected person’s touch.

What’s known about how contagious an asymptomatic person might be?

No matter what, if you’ve been exposed to someone with COVID-19, you should self-quarantine for the entire 14-day incubation period. Even if you feel fine, you’re still at risk of spreading the coronavirus to others.

Most recently it has been shown that high levels of the virus are present in respiratory secretions during the “presymptomatic” period that can last days to more than a week prior to the fever and cough characteristic of COVID-19. This ability of the virus to be transmitted by people without symptoms is a major reason for the pandemic.

After an asymptomatic infection, would someone still have antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in their blood?

Most people are developing antibodies after recovery from COVID-19, likely even those without symptoms. It is a reasonable assumption, from what scientists know about other coronaviruses, that those antibodies will offer some measure of protection from reinfection. But nothing is known for sure yet.

Recent serosurveys in New York City that check people’s blood for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 indicate that as many as one in five residents may have been previously infected with COVID-19. Their immune systems had fought off the coronavirus, whether they’d known they were infected or not – and many apparently didn’t.

How widespread is asymptomatic COVID-19 infection?

No one knows for sure, and for the moment lots of the evidence is anecdotal.

For a small example, consider the nursing home in Washington where many residents became infected. Twenty-three tested positive. Ten of them were already sick. Ten more eventually developed symptoms. But three people who tested positive never came down with the illness.

When doctors tested 397 people staying at a homeless shelter in Boston, 36% came up positive for COVID-19 – and none of them had complained of any symptoms.

In the case of Japanese citizens evacuated from Wuhan, China and tested for COVID-19, fully 30% of those infected were aymptomatic.

An Italian pre-print study that has not yet been peer-reviewed found that 43% of people who tested positive for COVID-19 showed no symptoms. Of concern: The researchers found no difference in how potentially contagious those with and without symptoms were, based on how much of the virus the test found in indiduals’ samples.

The antibody serosurveys getting underway in different parts of the country add further evidence that a good number – possibly anywhere from around 10% to 40% – of those infected might not experience symptoms.

Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection appears to be common – and will continue to complicate efforts to get the pandemic under control.

[Research into coronavirus and other news from science. Subscribe to The Conversation’s new science newsletter.]

William Petri, Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Authorities have located a child reported missing Wednesday afternoon in Hidden Valley Lake.

The 3-year-old girl was located shortly after 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to radio reports confirmed by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Lt. Corey Paulich said the girl was found and is safe.

The girl had been reported missing earlier in the afternoon in the area of Hacienda Court.

Lake County Sheriff’s deputies, California Highway Patrol officers and firefighters were joined by community members in the search.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.