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Yuba-Sutter COVID-19 Case Spike? County Officials Say It's Due To More Testing

YUBA-SUTTER COUNTY (CBS13) — New COVID-19 numbers out of Yuba and Sutter counties show a small spike in cases of the virus since the county lifted their stay-at-home order two weeks ago.

It's been two weeks and a day since both counties opted to buck the state guidance and reopen many of their businesses - including salons and dine-in restaurants.

But locals like Anthony Archer feel it may have been too soon.

"Governor Newsom is in charge of the whole state, you know, why go against what he said?" Archer said.

When their order was lifted on May 4th, both counties had a combined 50 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19. Two weeks later, they have more than a dozen more. The number accounts for nearly a third of their caseload, and has some people, like Linda Wisner, concerned that this could be a second wave.

"To hear that there's a possibility they're rising," Wisner said. "It's worrisome."

Yuba County says otherwise and marks the rise in cases as simply an increase in testing. They added a new testing site to the area on the same day the order was lifted. At the beginning of the month, 1,800 people had been tested for the virus. Now more than 3,200 have been.

"If nothing else, it alerts us to the fact that COVID-19 is still in our community," Russ Brown, spokesperson for Yuba County said.

READ: Businesses Scramble To Prepare For Reopening As Sacramento County Gets Approval From State

Infectious disease expert Dr. Jeffrey Klausner agreed and told CBS13 community transmission on a state level is still low.

"That's a sign that our system is working," Dr. Klausner said. "That we have testing available for the right people."

More testing available plus more people getting tested equals finding more positives. But the real concern for county officials are the number of people choosing to avoid safety measures, ones they say with this reopening, are designed to keep everyone safe.

"Our concerns are that people are not taking all the precautions seriously," Brown said. "That's when we put our whole community at risk."

At the time this article was written Tuesday evening, Yuba County said only one person is hospitalized with COVID-19 at this point. Brown says they still feel lifting the stay-at-home order was the right move.

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