2,707 cases of COVID in City of Petaluma

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series that will explore COVID-19 in Petaluma.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in March, the county’s second-largest city has logged 2,707 positive COVID-19 cases, a fraction of Sonoma County’s running total, which stood at 22,043 Wednesday afternoon. Of those, 219 were fatal, although the county has not tracked pandemic deaths in Petaluma specifically.

According the most recent county data compiled Jan. 12, COVID-19 cases in Petaluma have largely followed regional trends, including an ongoing post-holiday surge that has overwhelmed contact tracers and continues to threaten hospital capacity.

It was a Dec. 3 presentation to the Petaluma City Council by the county’s Department of Health Services when local leaders received their first glimpse of how the pandemic is spreading within the city. The report provided demographics and workplace information within the 94952 and 94954 zip codes, spanning the entirety of Petaluma’s city limits and stretching to surrounding communities like Two Rock and Bloomfield.

Among the two zip codes, Petaluma’s more populated east side has racked up higher case rates than the west side, which skyrocketed in December and January. This tracks with city demographics, since the east side is home to more senior facilities, which have been especially hard hit in the pandemic.

COVID-19 Presentation to City of Petaluma, Dec. 3, 2020

The 2020 presentation revealed a significant overlap in countywide case trends and transmissions, but also highlighted how the virus is uniquely affecting some business sectors and community groups.

“There is some consistency with the rest of the county in seeing a disproportionate number of cases with the LatinX community,” said Kate Pack, health program manager for the county, about the city data. “Also, looking at the age range, there is a large percentage of cases in the 70-plus age range.”

Among those residents with known race and ethnicities, the largest share of positive infections have been among the “Hispanic and LatinX” community, representing nearly half of all cases. According to census data, 21.9% of Petaluma residents are LatinX. But as of this week, there have been a total of 1,084 positive COVID-19 cases among the city’s LatinX community, compared to 761 among white residents and 701 listed as “unknown.”

Some professions have proven more likely to come in contact with COVID-19. County health officials have seen higher case numbers among those who are retired, and those who work in agriculture and the sales and services sector, which includes retail and restaurant workers.

“We’ve seen a lot of people in dairy farms, creameries, kind of ag sectors in Petaluma,” said county epidemiologist Jenny Mercado. “It’s less than in the sales and services sectors, obviously, and in nursing facilities and care homes. We’ve also seen a much smaller group in manufacturing industries.”

Mercado cautioned that workplaces don’t necessarily translate into virus transmission sites, adding that the current post-holiday surge has limited contact tracers’ ability to collect more information.

Contact tracers, employed by the county, are crucial data collection tools in understanding the virus’ spread. They are tasked with letting people know if they may have been exposed to COVID-19, and help them to self-isolate and monitor symptoms.

So far, the greatest number of Petaluma workplace exposures throughout the pandemic have been seen in health care facilities and sales and services. To protect workers, the County suggested the City encourage employers to regularly test 25% of their staff, promote grocery delivery and pickup over store visits, and offer additional outreach to agriculture and restaurant businesses to ensure health and safety protocols are followed.

“We continue to see wide community spread of the virus, and continue to perform contact tracing,” said Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase in a press conference on Monday. “But our contact tracers are becoming overwhelmed by the number of daily cases and contacts.”

Mase said the Couty’s case rate per day per 100,000 is 46.6, with overall testing positivity at 9.3%.

“We are likely seeing the post-holiday surge in cases that we anticipated,” she said. “The good news is we are drastically scaling up our efforts to distribute the COVID vaccine, which is our most important tool in ending the pandemic.”

(Contact Kathryn Palmer at kathryn.palmer@arguscourier.com, on Twitter @KathrynPlmr.)