California sends emergency phone alert because of COVID. Don’t call 911, Valley county says

The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services at noon Tuesday issued an emergency text alert to all residents in the San Joaquin Valley urging them to stay home.

“New public health stay at home order in your area. COVID-19 is spreading rapidly,” the alert read.

The message was issued in English and Spanish through the state’s the Wireless Emergency Alerts system following a Regional Stay-at-Home Order, which took effect in the Valley on Monday. A similar message was sent to several counties in Southern California and could be be sent to other regions if they move into stay-at-home status.

The counties were notified of the alert on Monday afternoon.

Don’t call 911, county says

Though the state said the message was strictly informational, Kern County raised concerns about the the alert system being used in this way and warned it could lead to a flood of call to its 911 system.

Dan Lynch, the emergency director for Fresno County, said calls to 911 systems would likely increase following the alert. But that’s not out of the ordinary, and would not be unmanageable.

“It will be alarming to some people but I don’t expect panic,” he said.

“It will definitely raise the awareness level of the issue.”

Fresno County is in the midst of a coronavirus surge that has seen an increase in positive cases and deaths and a decrease in ICU capacity. On Monday, the county’s 14-day average positivity rate was 10.4% and the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations was at 408.

The number of available ICU beds in the region is 6.3%, well below the 15% needed to trigger the lockdown. In Fresno that number was at zero.