In a bid to help businesses weather the pandemic, the City of Manteca is allowing businesses to use tents of no larger than 120 square feet each to expand outdoor service areas without the need to obtain a permit.
Tents without side walls that are typically 10 by 12 feet or 10 by 10 feet that are free standing and anchored properly can be used to expand onto sidewalks as well as private parking spaces adjacent to their business as long as they are not spaces designated for disabled drivers. Minimal Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, a 4-foot wide clearance is maintained on sidewalks for pedestrians, and fire lane requirements must be maintained.
The tents are allowed immediately. They can be used for the duration of the pandemic emergency for businesses that are eligible to be open under state and county COVID-19 rules and meet reopening rules.
For assistance with larger outdoor tent structures requiring permits, or, for recommendations for placement of outdoor commercial activities, businesses can contact the City at (209) 456-8522 or email econdev@mantecagov.com. All businesses using this program will be required to sign a hold harmless agreement with the City of Manteca and send pictures of their outdoor setup prior to beginning outdoor service.
Detailed information and application packets can be found at the following links: Outdoor Commercial Activity: https://bit.ly/320L0YX and Outdoor Dining: https://bit.ly/3iDJsue.
Current positive cases
keep dropping in SJC
The number of people currently inflicted with CIOVID-19 in San Joaquin County continues to inch downward.
There were 156 new cases Wednesday. The number of people currently with the virus is 1,545, down from 1,615 on Tuesday. That was up from 1,128 on Monday due to a backlog of cases caused by a state computer glitch being added to the cases.
Postings on the San Joaquin County COVID-19 dashboard on Wednesday as of 12:25 p.m. show 1,545 persons out of 760,000 San Joaquin County residents are currently positive with the virus although they are not necessarily sick. That is the number once you subtract the 12,481 people that health officials have determined to have recovered from the 14,026 cases since March
Many of the recovered may never have been ill.
The mask order and social distancing is designed to protect people from those who may not know they are carrying the virus and who may never show symptoms.
There were 4 more deaths reported to bring the San Joaquin County total to 239. Of the 239 deaths only 14.6 percent did not have pre-existing conditions such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease, or diabetes.
The site stressed case data after July 27 “is severely delayed due to major technical issues in the State’s electronic reporting system. Data regarding deaths have not been impacted.” It is not clear if there are any other backlogged test results from San Joaquin County yet to be released by the state.
In the past two weeks Stockton has gone from 5,257 cases to 6,692, Manteca from 970 to 1,205, Lodi from 970 to 1,188, Tracy from 832 to 1,070, Lathrop from 281 to 358, Ripon from 105 to 121, and Escalon from 63 to 76.
As of Wednesday there were 38 of 72 beds at Doctors Hospital in use. Ten of the beds had COVID-19 patients with two in ICU beds. That compares to Monday when DHM had 10 overall COVID-19 patients with 2 using intensive care unit beds. Kaiser Foundation Hospital of Manteca on Wednesday had 28 beds in use, 11 COVID-19 patients, and 5 using ICU beds.
On Wednesday there were 158 COVID-19 patients countywide down from 182 on Monday. Of those, 51 were using ICU beds down 6 from the previous day.
COVID-19 patients account for 39 percent of the ICU load. There are 132 ICU beds in use of which 33 were converted beds. That means as a group hospitals in the county are operating at 133 percent of licensed ICU bed capacity.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
