Hello Folks,

My dear friend Brian recently got married and when we were chatting for my birthday this week, he invited me over to dinner at his home in Sacramento with his new wife Pennie.  He is a high school buddy and we have had a wonderful friendship ever since our Freshman year in high school when we were both on the Track Team at a Bay Area high school.

So, I was really interested in his invitation.

But I thought…. "Better ask him a couple of questions first".  So, I did.

ME:          Brian, did you or anyone else in the wedding party get sick after your wedding?  

BRIAN:   Not that I know of.  

Hmmm, ok.  that's good news. Sort of.  Kind of qualified, though.  But still, on the positive ledger.

And then,

ME:        Brian, have you gotten tested for the coronavirus?  

BRIAN:  No, dadgumit, I have tried to get tested at my health care provider *** but they say I do not qualify!

Further,

ME:        Well, you HAVE gotten the flu shot, haven't you?  That's pretty available now.

BRIAN:  To be honest John, I have not done that before, so no I have not gotten the flu shot this year, but I AM thinking about it.

BOOM!  Knocked me back on my feet.  Here is my dear friend, someone I have been good buddies with for OVER 50 years asking me for a first dinner at his home with his new wife (and I hear she is a good cook!) to celebrate my birthday and I REALLY wanted to go!

So, what did I tell Brian?  (Please note:  Brian knows I am spending a fair amount of time caring for my 91 year old Mother in her condo nearby).

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Dear Folks,

That's the "Test positivity" rate of Yolo County @ 6.15%  (as of a few minutes ago) vs the 10 counties of the Bay Area that are at 3.7%.  

It helps explain a few things….. on the news in the Bay Area is a new warning from the collective Bay Area Public Health Departments…. they are saying "If you are going to travel outside of the Bay Area for the holidays please check the % positivity rate of your destination before you go and decide accordingly".

And they add that if you go to a high positivity area, please self-quarantine for 14 days after you come back.

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Dear Folks,

As Yolo County is on the precipice of going in the wrong direction (from the Red Tier to the Purple Tier), we might pause and wonder:  Why is Napa County doing so much better than us?

They are firmly in the Orange Tier.

Well, maybe we can look at the dashboards for each county and see what we can find:

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Yikes!

That's the message that will be sent out to various types of business and all places of worship next week if Yolo County does not avoid sliding into the "Purple Tier" of coronavirus status.

Question: Which businesses are involved?

Restaurants for sure. Gym/fitness centers. Movie theaters. Might be more but those are for sure. I sure hope that moving to PURPLE does NOT affect the Davis Farmers' Market! The Market Manager there has been very diligent about reminding people about mask wearing and has spread out the physical positioning of booths to reduce risk of virus transmission.

Question: When will we find out?

Next Tuesday, November 10th. The State of California will review our numbers for a two week period and if we are showing bad performance in the key coronavirus indicators, then they will issue a "Move to PURPLE" order. There is some room for negotiation if the numbers from the preceding 10 days are showing improvement.

Question: How do you keep up/find out more?

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Hey Folks,

Happy Election Day! Hope you are using your franchise to exercise your voting rights. I have. Feels downright American!!

While we await the results of today's election, we as a community are also awaiting the results of the State of California's determination if we are required, based on the numbers, to move to the more restrictive "PURPLE" category of coronavirus prevention and precaution.

You may have seen the article in Sunday's Davis Enterprise about this…. top of the fold, front page:

"COVID cases, hospitalizations up in Yolo County" By Anne Terns-Bellamy. Anne does a great job of laying out the reasons that we seem to be sliding into purple…. not good news for isolation weary residents or for our local businesses (read: Big part of our tax base).

So, what's going on?

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