( WIBW ) – Sacramento County Sheriff deputies and Rocklin Police, some wearing protective gloves, converged on a residential street Thursday as a sheriff’s helicopter circled overhead, ordering people to get inside.
People who live there were unclear why. Officers eventually let them come and go from their homes.
It was later learned that the first California coronavirus patient to die from the illness lived on this block.
The Placer County Health Department issued a brief statement shortly after the police presence, stating: “Law enforcement partners are currently responding to enforce a health officer’s order. We cannot share any additional information to protect patient confidentiality.”
The orders were given under sections of California Health and Safety Code that allows Placer Health to “enforce regulations requiring strict isolation, or quarantine if the action is necessary for the protection of the public health.”
The timing of this health officer citing isolation and quarantine health codes order comes a day after Placer County Public Health announced the death of the 71-year-old man.
“I understand the sensitivity of the situation, but of course more information is always better,” said Justin Rodgers, who lives in Rocklin.
As a Rocklin family mourns their loved ones death, law enforcement are a presence on their block in an effort to contain a contagious disease.
At no point was anyone from the Placer County Health Department seen entering any homes, and the county is not saying if law enforcement will be required in the days ahead.
Dantheman