So do Avalon Sheriff’s Station and Catalina Island Medical Center
As California and Los Angeles County COVID-19 case counts appear to be increasing, Love Catalina Island – Catalina Island Tourism Authority (formerly the Chamber of Commerce) sent out an email this week urging the public to wear face masks.
“There are plenty of reasons to wear a mask or face covering beyond political preference and it being a county and state requirement. COVID-19 has begun spreading across the southern and western U.S. and we know how to slow the spread of the virus without requiring severe new lockdowns,” said the unsigned June 25 email.
In this week’s Sheriff’s Log, Capt. John Hocking, commander of the Avalon Sheriff’s Station, also reminded the public to wear masks. The Catalina Island Medical Center took out an ad in the print edition of the Islander this week, thanking visitors and residents for wearing face masks.
Recently, the California Department of Public Health announced that the state has had 190,222 cumulative confirmed cases to date. “Numbers may not represent true day-over-day change as reporting of test results can be delayed,” said the CDPH news release. “There have been 3,592,899 tests conducted in California. As testing capacity continues to increase across the state, an increase in the number of positive cases has been expected – increasing the importance of positivity rates to find signs of community spread. There have been 5,632 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.”
Fortunately, there have been few confirmed cases on the island.
The Catalina COVID-19 case count hasn’t changed since June 15 when the Catalina Island Medical Center website reported a third cases on the island. That figure is cumulative since testing began.
And that figure hadn’t changed as of June 24.
According to the Medical Center website, there have been 152 COVID-19 antigen tests performed and three came back positive.
“Antigens are molecular structures on the surface of viruses that are recognized by the immune system and are capable of triggering an immune response (antibody production),” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
The hosptial website reported 46 antibody tests performed, of which five came back positive.
“Antibody tests check your blood by looking for antibodies, which can show if you had a past infection with the virus that causes COVID-19. Antibodies are proteins that help fight off infections and usually provide protection against getting that disease again (immunity). Antibodies are disease specific,” according to the CDC website.
Not mentioned in the visual display of the data on the website was the fact that two of those patients recovered weeks ago.
Catalina Island reopened June 12.
The third case was reported on the Medical Center website on June 15.
But keep in mind that there’s a time lag between any medical test and the results.
“It generally takes 24-48 hours to get results; however, sometimes it takes a bit longer depending on when the test is sent from the lab,” according to Tina Minh, chief Communications and Development officer for the Catalina Island Medical Center.
And don’t forget there is an incubation period between the time anyone is infected with a disease and the time they are tested.
“The onset and duration of viral shedding and the period of infectiousness for COVID-19 are not yet known,” according to the Centers for Disease Control website.
“Based on existing literature, the incubation period (the time from exposure to development of symptoms) of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses (e.g. MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV) ranges from 2–14 days,” according to the CDC website.
