Borrego Sun - Since 1949

Dear Fellow Residents,

The new coronavirus has brought more than its share of challenges to Borrego Springs. Leaders of our County and Borrego Springs have been trying to anticipate what actions we can take to slow the spread of the virus and to prepare our community to weather the storm.

The Borrego Springs Coronavirus Task Force is supporting an information hub and has been working on projects with leaders of our major community organizations to address the challenges posed by the Coronavirus. We will be here with all of you throughout the weeks to come. We are constantly updating the Borrego Springs Coronavirus Resource

Center website to provide you with the most accurate and up-to-date information and answers to your questions. In the first paragraph on that website you will find an overview of the public health strategy to address Coronavirus and what we can do in Borrego Springs to protect ourselves and others, including a link to our overall community strategy.

If you have friends and acquaintances who do not or cannot access our website, please copy and give this message to them. The Task Force will also ask our major local organizations to pass the message to their members. And, we plan to put an informative flyer about Coronavirus and community support in every P.O. box soon.

It turns out that the simplest, yet in some ways the most difficult, solutions depend on all of us staying home as much as we can, 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. Though we may feel like we are far away from the rest of the world, we cannot escape our connections to places beyond our valley. We are now sending messages (via the press, social media and electronic and printed signs) asking tourists to not visit Borrego Springs during this time.

Our medical clinic, fire department, paramedics, local leaders, county officials, park managers, teachers and school administrators, business owners, and church and community groups have all been focusing on helping Borrego Springs slow and manage how many people contract COVID-19 and prepare 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 reality was brought home when the first member of our community was diagnosed with COVID-19. That person will not be the last. This is a highly infectious virus, and we now understand that we can’t judge whether we have it or are contagious just by looking at whether we have symptoms. Taking the actions recommended should reduce the likelihood of infection. Nonetheless, people will become ill, so we must support them with compassion, kindness, and respect.

There is 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

For more information, visit the Borrego Springs Task Force at https://accesshealthborrego.org/coronavirus/