Imperial County Board of Supervisors: No significant changes at this time

Board held emergency meeting to discusses Governor's recommendation to reinstate stay-at-home order

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - The Imperial County Board of Supervisors held an emergency meeting late Friday afternoon to discuss Governor Gavin Newsom's recommendation that the county reinstate a stay-at-home order.

Earlier in the day, Newsom said he thought the county should reinstate a stay-at-home order to combat its steeply increasing coronavirus cases. He said he was concerned by the county's positivity rate. It averaged 23% in the last week, compared to 5.7% statewide.

[Related Story: California governor calls on Imperial County to reinstate stay-at-home order]

A few hours later, Luis Plancarte, Chairman of the Board and District 2 Supervisor called for an emergency meeting and released this statement:

“We received verbal notification minutes prior to Governor Newsom’s public announcement.  It is necessary that the entire board, in consultation with the Public Health Officer, discuss how we move forward to protect the health and safety of our community.”

Luis Plancarte, Chairman of the Board and District 2 Supervisor

But the Board came up with no concrete plans for addressing the Governor's recommendation during the following meeting. Instead, it issued an appeal to county residents to follow CDC guidelines more stringently. It called on people to wear masks, to socially distance, and to stay at home as much as possible.

Plancarte says supervisors will meet with health officials over the weekend to look for more ways for the county to curb the spread of coronavirus. However, at this time it does not look like a new stay-at-home order is being seriously considered.