OC officials condemn death threat to county health officer over face coverings order
Orange County officials defended the county's health officer after they say she received a death threat during a Board of Supervisors meeting.
SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- Orange County officials defended County Health Officer Dr. Nichole Quick after they say she received a death threat during Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.
"While many people have strong emotions related to the facial coverings order, it is never appropriate to intimidate or threaten violence," Supervisor Chairwoman Michelle Steel said Thursday.
Steel says it happened when they opened the meeting up to public comments. The county is addressing safety protocols and taking every action necessary to be sure Quick is safe.
"She has been a hardworking partner in this crisis," Steel said. "I strongly condemn this behavior and it should never happen again."
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Another point of discussion was last week's spike in daily death counts and positive cases. The county says there is no evidence to suggest it has anything to do with protests or those enjoying the beach.
"What we know is that we did have a strong spike in terms of infections that occurred within our skilled nursing facilities," County CEO Frank Kim said. "We did have an outbreak that occurred within a homeless shelter environment."
And as the county begins to reopen more businesses and facilities, we've learned to expect more changes at the beach.
"Our understanding is the state is going to open up all of their parking and we are following suit and starting next week, all of our parking lots will be open as well," Kim said.
County leaders also wanted to point out the percentage of positive tests is now at 5.1%, down from 6.2% two weeks ago.
