Mammoth Brewing Company announced Wednesday that its 25th Mammoth Festival of Beer and Bluesapalooza has been postponed until August 5-8, 2021. 

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected everyone, and like all of you, we have been hoping that we would see improvement, even some resolution in the coming weeks … an even though the festival is still 3.5 months away, we feel it is better to be proactive with a smart decision now rather than wavering until later this summer.”

Bluesapalooza is traditionally the largest ticketed event in the Eastern Sierra. 

Meanwhile, the Mule Days Board of Directors issued a similar announcement on Monday. 

Dear Mule Days Friends, 

“It is with heavy hearts that the Board of Directors announces that we have made the decision to postpone the Mule Days Celebration until May of 2021 … 

We will miss our friends, mule fans, visitors, volunteers, contestants, vendors, advertisers and sponsors who come from nearly every state in America and several countries. We value and appreciate all who have worked so hard to bring together 50 Years of the “Greatest Mule Show on Earth”. But it is out of an abundance of caution for the health and well-being of our Eastern Sierra communities and for those who visit us that we make this decision.”

The week that was 

Mono County made national news Monday as the New York Times ran a story titled, “Why Mammoth Lakes is Turning Away Visitors.” 

Mono County Public Health Officer Tom Boo and Mono County Sheriff Ingrid Braun were quoted in the story. 

The gist: Mono County doesn’t have the resources to accommodate visitors and/or second homeowners who may wish to shelter here during the corona lockdown. 

Boo is quoted in the story as being “absolutely terrified” – though it’s not made entirely clear

what he’s terrified of. 

There is also a suggestion in the story that local leaders have/were contemplating setting up “checkpoints” along Highway 203 to question whether or not those coming to town are local or have essential business in the town. 

While the checkpoint idea was ultimately dismissed due to its illegality, it wasn’t dismissed before casual readers of the New York Times called this newspaper to ask about the checkpoint which they assumed had already been instituted. 

Alas, the police state has not yet triumphed, much to Sheriff Braun’s dismay. 

Perhaps Boo’s terror is encapsulated by the story’s final paragraph, where he is quoted as saying, “Lying here at 5:20 a.m., the story isn’t really a road checkpoint. It’s about a little mountain town and its little hospital on the verge of getting crushed.” 

Normally, we might take a little dig at the hyperbole, but without the hyperbole, would people have complied as readily as they have. 

According to Mammoth’s Public Information Officer Stuart Brown, “Mono County has experienced a dramatic 55 – 70% decrease in the average mobility (based on distance traveled) of residents during the past few weeks. This puts Mono County near the top of the statewide Social Distancing Scoreboard.”

Folks are staying put, staying apart and staying scrubbed. 

And from Thursday’s virtial community meetings in Mono and Inyo counties. 

Mono County

As of Thursday evening, Mono County had 20 positive test results for COVID-19 with 77 testing negative and 15 still pending a result. Dr. Tom Boo noted during a community meeting over Zoom that the new positive case test was actually an individual who had tested positive some weeks ago in another county but is originally a Mono County resident. Boo noted that aside from this after-the-fact addition to the positive test column, Mono County has not seen a new case in more than a week. He did caution that they may change in the coming week. 

Dr. Craig Burrows, representing Mammoth Hospital, responded to a question from a viewer about potentially closing Highway 203 going forward. Previously, Mammoth Hospital had inquired to CalTrans and county authorities about closing the road. However, Burrows noted that the hospital had “really moved away from the idea of closing the road, indicating that they were instead asking people to understand the gravity of the epidemic situation. 

Mammoth Lakes Town Manager Dan Holler, responding to reports of some hotels still offering room bookings, noted that county hotels had been asked to block calendars for a period of time. Dispersed camping is still allowed in Mono County, per Sheriff Ingrid Braun.

In response to another question about a ruling on delaying the start of fishing season in the county, Sheriff Braun explained that there had been a scheduled meeting of California Fish and Wildlife but “that meeting did not handle technical difficulties.” Braun summed the situation up as “some people were less than appropriate for an online webinar.”

Once caller asked the meeting panel, “Do you think June 1 is a realistic date to welcome tourists back to June 1?”. 

“This is a statewide stay at home order and we’ll be following the orders of the governor”, Boo said.

–Page 

Inyo County

The Inyo County stats as of Thursday at 4 p.m:

11 positives 

116 negatives 

28 pending 

The incubation period median is 4 days but can be up to 14 days which is why the quarantine is the length it is. 

Disease breakdown – a national view: 

81% have mild disease means no or mild pneumonia

14% have severe disease which means pneumonia with sob hypoxia 

5% have critical disease with respiratory failure due to ARDS, spesis, mof

Mortality of 2.3%. Varies greatly by age

More than 50% of lung complications show up within 24-48 hours

How long does it take to get better?

There is, as of right now, no specific treatment. For mild infections it appears to be 2 weeks, and there is a 3-6 week recovery period.

If you may have corona, is taking ibuprofen actually bad for you?

Unproven. For now, maybe use Tylenol but again, this is not definitive. 

How many ventilators does NIH have?

5 ventilators. 3 anesthesia machines. 20 disposable ventilator machines

If you’d like a test, contact your primary care physician if you have symptoms.

How many cases can NIH handle? 

Depends on how severely ill they are. Mild cases, we could handle a significant number of patients. 

Inyo County Sheriff Jeff Hollowell says one employee has tested positive for Covid-19.

-Hite