COVID-19

Independence Day has a long tradition of bringing family and friends together from near and far to enjoy many of the things that make us uniquely American. Along with all of the freedoms we enjoy we share a strong national conscience. Part of that conscience is accepting responsibility for fulfilling, as individuals,
our civic duties. In these times of pandemic, perhaps our most important civic duty is to ensure the health and safety and wellbeing of ourselves, our families and our community.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - COVID-19 testing will continue in the Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) Physical Education building through the end of July, at a minimum.

The LTCC virus testing site is the only large scale site in El Dorado County after the site at Ponderosa High School in Shingle Springs closed. There has since opened a testing site in El Dorado Hills.

The decision to continue using the facility as a testing site will be made on a month-to-month basis going forward.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - With months of people being under "Stay at Home" orders, and if the past few days are any indication, this holiday weekend will be busy at Lake Tahoe as people get out in the fresh air, hike, bike, go to the beach and get on the water.

The July Fourth holiday at Lake Tahoe will look a bit different this year with firework shows canceled, social distancing, the requirement of face coverings in public places and growing concerns about responsible recreation.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - El Dorado County health officials have announced 14 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the county, five in the Lake Tahoe region, three in Greater Placerville, three in El Dorado Hills, one in the Pollock Pines/Camino and Kyburz area, one in the Diamond Springs/El Dorado area and one in the Cameron Park/Shingle Springs/Rescue area. Of the new cases, nine are males, five are females, 13 in the 18-49 age group, and one in the 50-64-year-old group.

There have been an additional three recoveries, leaving 73 active cases.

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. - The Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team is promoting Lake Tahoe Wildfire Awareness Month during July. This year’s theme is “Fight fire with a plan” to encourage residents and visitors to prepare their family, property and possessions now before a wildfire starts by creating a plan.

Some ways to plan include:

Develop a family evacuation plan.
Assemble a Go-bag and a disaster supply kit for your home and vehicle.
Create and maintain defensible space around homes.
Sign up for emergency notifications for residents and visitors and stay informed.

Austin Angell’s 46th annual Ponderosa Ridge Run will be held Saturday, July 4, 2020, at 10:00 a.m.

The popular event will start at the Spooner Summit Maintenance Station located near the intersection of US50/SR28 on the east side of the summit. The 9.5-mile hilly course is on a non-paved fire road featuring a 2,000-foot elevation gain in the first four miles with scenic views along the Tahoe Rim Trail, and a downhill finish near the end of North Benjamin off Kingsbury Grade (SR207).

Transportation is not provided back to the start area.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - El Dorado County health officials are reporting 21 additional cases of COVID-19 Friday-Monday. Eight are in the Lake Tahoe region, six are in El Dorado Hills, two in the Diamond Springs/El Dorado area, and five in the Greater Placerville area. There was a reclassification of a case in Cameron Park/Shingle Springs.

The Resilience Fund-Tahoe has funded its first local loan to Freshies Tahoe. The funds helped save their outdoor patio deck, which was in desperate need of repair and will be critical to ensuring their future success serving customers outdoors.

“After many months of unsuccessfully trying multiple federal avenues for support of Freshies during the business disruption caused by the pandemic, we are thrilled to have qualified for this very generous Resilience Fund loan! We are ready to get our deck open! Thank you so much,” said owners Erik and Melodie Ulman.

The 15th annual Tahoe Bike Challenge began June 1st for a month of biking excitement throughout Lake Tahoe. To date, participants have already logged over 39,000 miles and almost 3,800 trips. This has resulted in 1,685 pounds CO2 not released into the air through car rides.

If you haven't already joined, there's still time to register at lovetoride.net/tahoe. Looking for a team to join? Join the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition team.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Due to restrictions on gathering in groups because of COVID-19, Caltrans created a virtual ribbon cutting and "thank you" video highlighting their four-year $52.9M water quality improvement project on Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There are no EL Dorado County COVID-19 updates for Friday as the statewide website they utilize for some of their data was down this afternoon. There is one person hospitalized in the ICU in El Dorado County and no suspected cases at this time. The next update is expected on Monday.

All other area Nevada and California counties supplied the following information:

Quad-Counties - Carson City, Douglas, Storey, Lyon

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - With more and more cases of COVID-19 being confirmed across the nation and more people traveling, the chances of employees at our favorite stores, businesses, and restaurants having the virus are also increasing.

Such was the case this past weekend at The Beacon Bar & Grill in South Lake Tahoe.

An employee showed up for work on Saturday, June 20, and informed management he was running a fever. They immediately sent the employee home. A COVID-19 test taken on Sunday confirmed he was positive for the virus on Tuesday.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Lime will be bringing scooters back to South Lake Tahoe after a unanimous vote by the City Council to temporarily reduce fees associated with the popular mobile devices during their meeting Tuesday. With a reduced season the new charge of $75 per device was not making sense according to the company.

STATELINE, Nev. - Harrah's Tahoe, Harveys, and all other Caesars Entertainment properties now require masks to be worn by everyone indoors at its properties across the Caesars network. This includes all employees, vendors, contractors, guests, and passersby in their properties.

In a statement today, Caesars Entertainment said the new universal mask requirement began at noon on Wednesday, June 24, 2020. Masks are not required when eating and guests will be allowed to smoke or drink by moving the mask, then recovering their mouth and nose when done.

Tahoe Magic wants to thank the hundreds of donors who have contributed during this COVID-19 crisis. We have received $236,893 to date in donations since mid-March and, in turn, we have helped more than 300 families, about 1500 individuals, with assistance totaling $204,094. We are spending your contributions almost as quickly as we are getting them. Every donation has gone directly back into the South Lake Tahoe community to support those needing help with basics: shelter, food and utilities.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. - The Tahoe Chamber is holding another virtual town hall meeting on Friday, June 26 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. This week will be a health update on COVID-19 from Barton Health.

Speakers will include:

- Dr. Clint Purvance, CEO, Barton Health
- Steve Teshara, CEO, Tahoe Chamber

There will also be an update on testing for the coronavirus underway at Lake Tahoe Community College.

Register in advance for the Virtual Town Hall at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UuLB7cK8Qka6He4_6ibHtA

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - El Dorado County health officials have announced 15 new cases of COVID-19 since Friday, bringing the total to 145.

The new cases are nine males, six females, seven ages 18-49, five in the 50-65 age group, and three 65 and older.

There were nine new cases in the Lake Tahoe region, three in Greater Placerville, two in Cameron Park/Shingle Springs, and one in El Dorado Hills. Since the local casinos opened on June 4 there have been 48 new cases of the coronavirus in the Lake Tahoe region of El Dorado County.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Due to the coronavirus pandemic, blood drives have been nonexistent but they are returning to the South Shore in the coming weeks. As a bonus, all of those donations will receive a free COVID-19 antibody screening test.

The Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District is hosting a blood drive on June 30 at the Kahle Community Center's Tallac Activity Room from 11:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. To make an appointment, visit HERE.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - El Dorado County health officials say there were five new confirmed cases in the county Friday, four from the Lake Tahoe region, one from the Greater Placerville area. Of the three females and one male, one was under 18, one between 18-49, and three in the 50-64 age group.

There were no new recoveries leaving 30 active cases. There are no hospitalizations but there are three patients in the ICU with suspected COVID-19.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Summer mountain activities will soon get underway at Vail's Lake Tahoe resorts: Heavenly, Northstar, and Kirkwood.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - For the second time since the COVID-19 pandemic started,
the South Tahoe Public Utility District Board of Directors approved waiving late fees for water and sewer bills due at the end of June.

“We recognize that some in our community are financially struggling,” says Randy Vogelgesang, Board President. “Waiving late fees for bills due during COVID-19 provides customers some relief.”

Customers with questions or those facing hardships are encouraged to contact the District at (530) 544-6474 to find out about various services and payment options available.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Nev. - In response to Governor Sisolak’s announcement of the State entering Phase 2 of COVID-19 recovery, Douglas County Community Services has announced the reopening of child care programming, Lake Day Camp, at Kahle Community Center starting on Tuesday June 23, 2020.

Procedures will be implemented at the Kahle Community Center as outlined below based on Directive 21 – Roadmap to Recovery for Nevada for Phase 2.

Safety Guidelines for entering the Kahle Community Center building include:

El Dorado County health officials have confirmed three new cases of COVID-19, two in El Dorado Hills and one in the Lake Tahoe region. This brings the total number of cases in El Dorado County to 121.

Of the new cases, two are male, one is female and all are under the age of 17.

There have been no new recoveries and that number remains at 99, leaving 22 active cases. There are no hospitalizations at this time but there is one suspected case in the ICU.

178 new tests were administered.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There was one new confirmed case of COVID-19 in El Dorado County Tuesday, a male in the 18-49 age group. This brings the total of cases to 118.

There have been an additional four recovered (99), leaving 19 active cases. There are currently no patients in the hospital with confirmed COVID-19 but there are two suspected positive patients in the ICU.

There were an additional 166 tests administered in the county Tuesday.

There have been 57 cases in the Lake Tahoe area (including South Lake Tahoe, Meyers, Strawberry, and Tahoma).