A sixth potential case of coronavirus was reported in Orange County as officials Thursday prepare a plan to shift employees to work from home as much as possible.
The sixth presumptive case, reported Wednesday, involved a woman who is at least 65 years old, believed to have contracted it while traveling, but that has not yet been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The county now has two presumptive cases and four confirmed cases. Three men have been confirmed as having the disease, and one woman.
Two of the confirmed victims were 18 to 49 years old, one is 50 to 64 and one is 65 or older.
Of the presumptive cases one is a man and the other is a woman. One is 18 to 49 and one is 65 or older.
Five of the cases were travel-related and one was “person-to-person spread.”
Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, vice chairman of the board, said the county will cancel all “nonessential county meetings and events.”
Officials are doing what they can to “allow employees who can work from home the opportunity to do so,” Do said.
County officials will also do what they can to accommodate paid time off for workers who have to care for someone stricken with the virus, Do said, or employees have to stay home to watch children if schools are closed.
County officials are also planning to do daily media briefings, Do said. Plans are being made for town halls that could be streamed online at least once a week as well.
County Health Care Agency officials will also focus on educating the public about “social-distancing techniques” to tamp down spread of the virus, with a focus on the most vulnerable populations such as the elderly, Do said.
Officials have stepped up sanitizing the county’s jails, homeless shelters and John Wayne Airport, Do said.