The message from the City of Lathrop’s emergency operations command on Wednesday night was clear – stay home and save lives.

The mobilized team consisting of City Manager Steve Salvatore as Director and Fire Chief Gene Neely and Police Chief Ryan Biedermann serving as co-directors held another video briefing to bring the public up to speed on the COVID-19 pandemic and how it’s impacting the local community.

The briefing came on Wednesday when an additional 10 cases of coronavirus were confirmed with no new deaths o bring the total so far in San Joaquin County to 161. There have been eight coronavirus related deaths so far in the county including one in Manteca.

Less than a week after Lathrop closed the playgrounds at its local parks and the amenities where people may gather to adhere to social distancing guidelines, the city is now encouraging people to respect the recommendations from health officials and not leave their homes unless they absolutely have to.

“We haven’t even begun to see the largest numbers in the curve that they are predicting,” Salvatore said. “We absolutely want to stress that these guidelines that we are under for social distancing need to be adhered to.

“We need to respect these social distancing guidelines because it’s very important to reduce that curve and to make sure we don’t end up spiking our numbers and allowing many people to contract this virus.”

With San Joaquin County being one of the most active hot spots in the San Joaquin Valley for COVID-19, the county has activated it’s 211 informational system to allow residents to get information critical during the emergency in one centralized location.

By either dialing 211 from any phone or visiting www.211sj.org, residents can access information pertaining to housing and shelter, health care, substance abuse, mental health treatment, food, education, and children’s health services. Calling from a phone allows somebody to connect with those resources through a switchboard while visiting the website provides an online database of resources to help those that are struggling or need information that they can’t readily find.

To date Lathrop has closed the Senior Center, the Community Center and the Generations Center and the San Joaquin County Public Library extension attached to the building. The city has also cancelled a number of parks programs to adhere to social distancing guidelines including Breakfast with the Bunny and bus trips to Columbia State Historic Park and Great America.

The city has posted information obtained from the New York Times on its website to answer any questions people may have about the recently approved stimulus package – both for individuals and businesses that are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additional information about the pandemic can be found by visiting Lathrop’s website at www.ci.lathrop.ca.us.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.