With the state’s COVID emergency now officially over, there will be some changes for Public Health departments. Nevada County Public Health Officer, Doctor Sherilynn Cooke says most notably for them it means the end of administering the state’s free testing and treatment program…

click to listen to Dr Sherilynn Cooke

Doctor Cooke says Paxlovid will still be free, for now, but it will eventually need to be purchased. It’s the oral antiviral pill that can be taken at home to help keep high-risk patients from getting so sick that they need to be hospitalized….

click to listen to Dr Sherilynn Cooke

But Doctor Cooke says it’s proper time for ending the emergency. She says Nevada County’s case rate has been dropping is now down to four per one-hundred-thousand residents. But that’s likely a low number, with more home testing being done these days and not being reported. California has the ninth-lowest death rate in the nation. Also, if you get Cal-Fresh benefits, you will no longer get the emergency allotment after the March disbursement.