Stanislaus County is allowing golf courses, playgrounds, basketball courts, and tennis courts to reopen today at 5 a.m.

San Joaquin County is not going that far but according to Supervisor Tom Patti golf courses are being allowed to reopen today at noon.

That won’t be the case in Manteca. Assistant City Manager Lisa Blackmon noted the city has yet to receive official notification. She added the management staff will bring the issue before the council as their directive has been to follow the state that is being guided by scientific and medical data.  

Given the lateness of the county decision on Thursday night, it isn’t clear whether the city could have reopened Manteca Golf Course on such a short notice since today is a flex Friday and staff key to making that happen aren’t working.

Blackmon added that the city also doesn’t want to be in a position where they may seem to be getting ahead of reopening small businesses that are being hurt financially given the golf course generates money for the city.

“We also want to be cautious since people from outside Manteca use the golf course that (when we reopen it) won’t cause any health problems,” Blackmon said.

Head Public Health Officer Dr. Maggie Park issued guidelines for social distancing to be employed at golf courses that do reopen and steps they need to take to protect the health of employees and the public.

The 10 golf courses in San Joaquin County including Manteca Golf Course as well as Jack Tone and Spring Creek in Ripon have been closed since mid-March due to COVID-19 pandemic social distancing orders.

Sacramento County did not at any time order their golf courses closed due to the pandemic.

Patti, in posting news that golf courses will be allowed to reopen, noted 400 people throughout the county will be able to go back to work. He added it also will provide an outlet for people to get exercise and fresh air while the stay at home order is in effect.

Earlier this week San Joaquin County extended its park closure order to May 31 affecting all uses including walking and boat ramps at county parks including Mossdale Crossing and Dos Reis in Lathrop and Micke Grove Regional Park in Lodi.

Park also relented on her directive banning elective surgery including cancer-related procedures after San Joaquin County EMS Medical Director Dr. Katherine Shafer said residents were heeding stay at home orders “too successfully” resulting in unusually large drops in emergency room visits. Medical providers have been reporting substantial drops in patients seeking care for stroke or heart ailments during stay-at-home orders even though it was made clear that it was vital such patients continue to access emergency services in a prompt manner.

That decision followed an announcement by the state via Gov. Gavin Newsom that elective surgeries could be allowed in various counties.

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, San Joaquin County had 487 confirmed cases with 22 deaths.

The county’s number of COVID-19 patients that were receiving care at the six hospitals in the county stood at 29 on Tuesday including 17 patients that were in intensive care. That is roughly 20 less than the model for the original social distancing order projected for that date.

Based on a predictive model made specifically for San Joaquin County by Bayesiant that health officials shared two weeks ago indicated social distancing would allow the flattening of the curve to peak at 299 coronavirus cases requiring hospitalization on May 30 as opposed to a peak of 768 hospitalizations without social distancing that would be reached on May 1.

An updated snapshot of that modeling made available to the public on April 16 now shows — due to how successful social distancing has been to date — COVID-19 cases peaking at 230 on April 30.

From there new cases would virtually disappear by late June as was predicted to happen with no social distancing. The original curve flattening model the county has been operating under had daily cases still occurring well into late July.

County health officials have repeatedly stressed that while the even lower cases and nearer peak day that San Joaquin appears to be in track to attain is encouraging even greater flattening of the curve is needed. That underscores their continued advice to continue staying at home and practicing social distancing.

Sacramento County as of 5 p.m. Thursday reported 41 deaths and 987 confirmed cases. At 1.55 million residents Sacramento is about double San Joaquin County’s population of 762,000.

Stanislaus County as of 5 p.m. Thursday reported 5 deaths and 258 confirmed cases with the added caveat 170 of people that were sickened with the COVID-19 virus have recovered. Stanislaus County has 550,620 residents.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com