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Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency Announces

Closures of Multiple Offices Due to COVID-19

The Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency (HHSA) has confirmed that public employees at multiple HHSA office locations have tested positive for COVID-19. The following HHSA offices will be closed for cleaning due to COVID-19 positive cases:

• Porterville Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Office, located at 1055 W. Henderson Ave. in Porterville
• Visalia In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Office, located at 4025 West Noble Ave., Suite A, in Visalia
• Visalia Child Welfare Services (CWS) Office, located at 3500 W. Mineral King Ave, Suite A, in Visalia
• Child Welfare Services Office at the Juvenile Justice Center, located at 11200 Avenue 368 in Visalia

The Agency has closed these locations for cleaning and is notifying all members of its workforce with whom the infected employee may have had potential contact. The Agency had begun to limit the number of employees working at each of its sites in March, which has limited exposure to other County employees. The County has instructed all employees during this time that they should not come to work if they show any symptoms of illness. Additionally, public access to these offices has remained closed since March 23, 2020.

It is not unexpected that employees may become ill as COVID-19 continues spreading throughout the community. The HHSA has protocols in place to address this and similar situations involving employees who become ill. These protocols include: asking employees to stay home if they show any symptoms, reporting any symptoms that develop during working hours, asking non-essential employees to work from home, maintaining sufficient social distancing in the workplace, and consistently using excellent hygiene and cleaning practices.

With these offices expected to be temporarily closed, those needing services can contact the following:

• Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Services, please call 1-800-540-6880.
• In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), please call 1-866-376-7066. IHSS service recipients with urgent needs can call the IHSS Information Assistance at 1-800-321-2462.
• Child Welfare Services (CWS), please call (559) 623-0500, and to report suspected child abuse, call 1-800-331-1585.

The Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency is diligent about the protection of patient privacy, in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and for this reason we cannot release any other information about the affected employees. The information released about the positive COVID-19 cases in Tulare County is carefully curated to provide useful information to our community members, while also excluding information that would lead to the identification of affected persons. This is a protection, provided by law, that is extended to everyone.

For more information about COVID-19, visit www.tchhsa.org/ncov and www.covid19.tularecounty.ca.gov

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