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San Mateo County Now Under Regional Stay At Home Order as Virus Cases, Hospitalizations Rise
As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge and ICU capacity declines, San Mateo and 10 other Bay Area counties are under a mandatory Regional Stay At Home Order that takes effect Thursday, Dec. 17, at 11:59 p.m. Read more here: https://bit.ly/2WnuDmI
County of San Mateo officials urge all residents to act assertively to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 by stepping up vigilance about all health and safety measures – especially avoiding gatherings – to slow the spread of COVID-19.
We can do it. We can come back together again.
San Mateo County COVID-19 Case Count
San Mateo County Health has updated the number of positive cases to 19,330 as of Dec 15, 2020.
County Health provides detailed information on cases by age group and date and deaths by age group. Learn more at https://www.smchealth.org/coronavirus
Call Center
Residents with non-medical, non-emergency questions about the coronavirus can call 211 or 800-273-6222 at any time, day or night. Callers from landlines and cellular telephones located within San Mateo County are connected with a trained service professional from 211, a confidential service available in 180 languages.
State COVID Response
On Tuesday, December 15, 2020, Governor Newsom provided an update on the state’s response to COVID-19. This weekend, the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup reviewed and confirmed the Pfizer vaccine is safe for public use. Nationally acclaimed Californians have been at the table at the federal process with three on FDA and CDC vaccine committees and one on President-Elect’s COVID-19 Task Force.
Vaccinate All 58
33,150 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived yesterday, December 14, at 4 locations. In addition, 24 more locations across the state are expecting doses to arrive today from San Diego to San Joaquin to Shasta. California is now expecting additional 393,900 doses of Pfizer next week and 672, 000 doses of Moderna by the end of December. The Governor announced a new vaccine campaign called, Vaccinate All 58. The campaign consists of guiding principles which are:
- Acknowledgement of personal community experiences
- Partner with diverse communities, community-based organizations and engage trusted messengers to share information
- Provide Californians with fact-based messages to make an informed decision of their own
- Vaccinate All 58 campaign launches this week, and this will connect with Californians in 13 languages. This campaign also focuses on safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.
As a reminder, the first doses of the vaccine will go to the following groups below:
Phase 1A group in Tier 1
- Acute care, psychiatric and correctional facility hospitals
- Skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and similar settings for older or medically vulnerable
- Paramedics, EMTs and other providing emergency medical services
- Dialysis centers
Phase 1A Tier 2
- Intermediate care facilities
- Home health care and in-home supportive services
- Community health workers
- Public health field staff
- Primary Care clinics, including Federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural Health Centers, correctional facility clinics and urgent care clinics
Phase 1A Tier 3- Other setting and health care workers, including:
- Specialty clinics
- Laboratory workers
- Dental/ oral health clinics
- Pharmacy staff not working in settings at higher tiers
COVID-19 Update
The rise of COVID-19 positive cases continues to rise with 32,326 on December 14 and a 32,523 7-day average. On a 7-day average, there are 296,613 daily tests which is a 10.7% increase. For COVID-19 positive hospitalizations, there is a 68% increase over 14-days. It is recorded that on December 14, there are 14,283 admitted COVID-19 positive patients compared to December 7 which was only 10,567. In the COVID-19 positive ICU admissions rate, there is a 54% increase over 14-days. Under the Regional Stay-at-Home Order, Greater Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley, and Southern California are below the 15% current ICU capacity, see table below. The Governor also stated that the Bay Area have voluntarily placed themselves in the order to prepare for future outcomes as they come close to fall below the 15% ICU capacity.
California’s Health Care Staffing
Staffing still remains the number one issue in the health care system during COVID-19. With that, the Governor announced new quarantine guidelines which are:
- 10-days for all asymptomatic individuals exposed
- During critical staffing shortages, 7-days for exposed healthcare, emergency response and select social service workers, if negative test in day 5 or later
On Friday, December 11, the administration issued a waiver adjusting nurse to patient ratio to help with staffing needs in some facilities including:
- ICUs
- Step-down units
- Telemetry units
- Emergency medical services
- Medical/ surgical units
Below is a visualization of the nurse to ICU patient ration during and without COVID-19.
California Continues to Prepare
The current staff deployed to assist healthcare workers are:
- 507 staff in 54 facilities in 20 counties
- 137 Cal MAT Individuals
- 300 contract staff
- 49 Cal Guard
- 21 Health Corps
Federal Resource Request Updates:
- FEMA Contract for 80 EMS: 40 paramedics/ 40 EMT
- DMAT of 35 that is currently supporting 2 hospitals
- Request for RRF for 200 (10 teams of 20) DOD Medical Personnel
Health Corps:
- To date, 2,772 shifts in 143 facilities statewide
- Currently supporting our most vulnerable populations in:
- Skilled nursing facilities
- Cal Vet Home
- Sleep Train Arena (Sacramento)
- Actively onboarding additional members
The number of COVID-19 deaths are rising in an alarming rate. To compare, there were 41 deaths in a 7-day average from November 14. On December 14, there were 163 deaths in a 7-day average. There are 60 53’ refrigerated storage currently standing by in counties and at hospitals. 5,000 additional body bags were purchased for state inventory which were recently distributed to San Diego, Los Angeles, and Inyo.
Youth Sports and Adult Recreation Guidance
Exercise is critical to physical and mental health, especially among children. Outdoor training can continue with masks and 6 feet distancing, different activities have different levels of risk, and competition with modifications may not resume prior to January 25, 2021 at the earliest.
Reporter’s Q&A
Do you know how many vaccines have been administered in the state? Will you be updating the COVID-19 dashboard to include that data? You mentioned that people with means should not be able to cut in the line. How are you going to do that?
We know that we received the vaccines at four locations and how many doses. All of those doses were administered. 24 other locations will be getting them shortly and will be getting more information. We want to make sure that our most vulnerable and frontline healthcare workers are the first to get the vaccine.
You talked about a messaging campaign for communities of color but many will still be hesitant to take the vaccine. What if people do not trust the vaccine and chose not to get it?
We have to acknowledge past injustices and work to overcome them. We need to build partnerships with trusted community leaders to get these conversations going. Some more federal funding would be helpful in this regard, as well.
You said we are in a sprint with a time frame of 45-days. Do you think cases will continue to peak for two more months? Can our hospitals even handle that?
The modeling is becoming more and more accurate. In every part of the state, our hospitals are already stretched thin, especially with regards to staffing. That is why we implemented those staffing changes. You want to look at cases 12 days ago, 12% of those cases will be hospitalized, and then 12% of those will be in the ICU system. Older people make up 80% of our hospital data even though they are only 14% of those with COVID-19.
There are still people defying the orders. How do you get people to comply with mask orders, etc?
The vast majority of people are listening to the orders. I am proud of this state. This is not political and it is a deadly disease.
Be Kind to Your Mind
This year has affected all of us in different ways. But there’s one thing that keeps San Mateo County strong: a sense of community. That’s why Headspace and San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services are working together to provide free resources that can help residents weather this storm.
Sign up to access Headspace meditations, sleep sounds, and movement exercises designed to help you care for your mind — all free through August 2021 if you live, work or go to school in San Mateo County. Because in times like these, a little support goes a long way.
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