Redwood City – The County of San Mateo continues to work to protect public health and safety in response to the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19.
The County of San Mateo’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) remains open to coordinate countywide response and communications in response to the situation. The EOC’s Joint Information Center will provide daily status reports Monday through Friday until further notice. Today’s report:
Resolution Condemns Discrimination, Affirms Commitment to Asian Americans
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday, April 21, 2020, on a resolution condemning racism against Asian Americans in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak and committing to protect and aid victims of hate acts, and to prosecute and curb hate crimes related to COVID-19.
“COVID-19 is a public health issue, not a racial one,” said Supervisor Dave Pine, co-author of the resolution who represents District 1. “Characterizing COVID-19 as a ‘Chinese virus’ only encourages hate crimes and incidents against Asian Americans at a time when communities should be working together to get through this crisis.”
Supervisor David J. Canepa, who represents District 5 and is also a co-author of the resolution, said, “Rumors and lies about COVID-19 have fueled mistrust, fear and racism against the Chinese and Asian American communities. We cannot let this disease divide us. Rather, this is an opportunity for us to say loud and clear that xenophobia has no place in our community.”
See the Board agenda and resolution at https://sanmateocounty.legistar.com/.
Guidance for Understanding Face Covering Order
On April 17, San Mateo County Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow, in conjunction with other Bay Area counties, issued an order requiring individuals over the age of 12 to wear a face covering when they leave their home to work or obtain essential goods and services. The order takes effect on April 22 at 8 a.m.
San Mateo County has developed materials in English, Chinese, and Spanish to help residents and businesses understand what qualifies as an appropriate face covering, and when and how they should be used. See downloadable face covering graphics for businesses https://cmo.smcgov.org/document/face-covering-signs-essential-businesses
See the library of COVID-19 downloadable graphics https://cmo.smcgov.org/covid-19-graphics-and-images-social-media-and-other-uses
County Manager’s Media Briefing on YouTube
Today’s media briefing on San Mateo County’s response to COVID-19 hosted by San Mateo County Manager Mike Callagy can be watched at https://youtu.be/_YQ8JS4qit4
Subscribe to the County’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/sanmateocountygov
San Mateo County COVID-19 Cases
San Mateo County Health has updated the number of positive cases to 920 as of April 19, 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 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.