California's remote Modoc County has its 1st COVID-19 cases

Officials were identifying people who may have had close contact with the individuals, who were isolating at home and have not been hospitalized, the department said, adding that people who patronized a local bar were being asked to call authorities.

"How lucky we have been to not see COVID-19 in our county until now, but it's here and we could see the number of cases increase in the next few weeks," said Stacy Sphar, Modoc County director of health services.

Sphar urged residents to "respect and follow" federal Centers for Disease Control's guidelines for reducing transmission of COVID-19.

The county Sheriff's Office used social media to ask people to use preventative measures that kept the county virus-free for months.

"Now is the time to come together to support not only our residents but also our public health officials," the office said.

The county of about 9,000 residents on May 1 defied Gov. Gavin Newsom's orders by reopening nonessential businesses and restaurants for dine-in service.

At the time, California had just surpassed 50,000 infections and 2,000 deaths, but that seemed a world away from Modoc, a drive of at least six hours from San Francisco into a region of forests, volcanic landscape features, farms and only one incorporated city, Alturas.

After six weeks of stay-at-home directives and business closures, county officials allowed reopening after what they said was careful planning with limits on the number of patrons inside businesses and precautions such as physical distancing.

Newsom subsequently began allowing counties to begin reopening. But infections in California began surging in June and this month he reimposed shutdown orders on many businesses while also barring indoor religious services and in-school instruction in most of the state.

The state now has had more than 466,500 cases and more than 8,500 deaths, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Modoc is among only a handful of California counties with just a few cases, but distance from highly populated metropolitan centers has not proven to be a barrier to the virus.

On Monday, Newsom announced plans to improve testing in the state's Central Valley agricultural region and to dispatch health care worker strike teams to help hospitals deal with cases.

On the state's distant northwest coast, Humboldt County topped 220 cases this week, raising concern about the rate of new infections.

"It took 105 days for our county to reach 109 cases, but we doubled that number in just 45 days," said Dr. Teresa Frankovich, the county health officer.