Borrego Sun - Since 1949

Dear Fellow Residents,

Thanks to support from The Borrego Valley Endowment Fund, the Borrego Springs COVID-19 Task Force has been addressing the threat posed by COVID-19 to our community for the past five months.

To date, most of our activities have been to provide information to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and to support vulnerable groups in our population by promoting the food banks, the Senior Center meals program and volunteers who help residents apply for financial assistance.

Borregans have been practicing COVID safe behaviors and our businesses have installed protections and enforced practices, such as requiring masks and distancing, to protect employees and customers. This has helped protect us from the rapid growth of cases that has occurred in Riverside and Imperial Counties.

The challenges and risks will increase significantly during the next six months as residents circulate more, seasonal residents return and tourists visit in large numbers. It is unlikely that enough of our residents and visitors will be vaccinated with a safe & effective vaccine to create herd immunity during this season. So, the Task Force is now implementing initiatives to help Borrego Springs remain a safe place to live and visit.

- Continue helping the vulnerable population shelter-in-place

- Help those who are stressed with coping skills, food and financial assistance

- Build a culture of health so that seasonal residents and tourists are more likely to practice COVID safe behaviors with us when they come

- Promote vaccination for seasonal flu before November to avoid the deadly combination of COVID-19 and flu

- Working with Borrego Health and the County Department of Public Health to offer more testing and contact tracing in Borrego Springs

- Working with the Borrego Springs Stewardship Council and the Borrego Village Association to encourage businesses, civic organizations and tourists to practice COVID safe behaviors

- Working with the Borrego Valley Endowment Fund to support Emergency Medical Air Evacuation and to open a second clinic that will provide urgent care and will supplement the Borrego Medical Clinic in providing primary care in Borrego Springs

- We are constantly updating the Borrego Springs Coronavirus Resource Center website (www.accesshealthborrego/coronavirus.org) to provide you with the most accurate and up-to-date information and answers to your questions.

It turns out that the simplest, yet in some ways the most difficult, solutions depend on all of us not gathering in large groups, washing our hands, keeping physical separation between us, wearing cloth face masks when we are in public, and taking care to protect the most vulnerable among us. We are doing all of this, and more, because we have known all along that Borrego Springs will not be immune to this virus.

Our Borrego Health medical clinic, fire department, paramedics, local leaders, county officials, park managers, teachers and school administrators, business owners, and churches and community groups have all been helping Borrego Springs slow and manage how many people contract COVID-19 and preparing to take care of everyone through these unsettling and frightening times – including people who become ill.

We need to work together to help keep our community safe. This is a highly infectious and deadly virus. Taking the actions recommended should dampen the spread of infection. Nonetheless, we still have a road ahead to navigate, but we are confident that Borregans will support each other in the very best spirit of our community.

– Borrego Springs COVID-19 Task Force

Bruce Kelley, Martha Deichler, Diane Johnson,

Betsy Knaak, David Leibert, Ernie Loza, Caroline Manildi