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:
Some San Mateo County Parks to Reopen May 4
The San Mateo County Parks Department will reopen trails in 13 of its 23 parks on Monday, May 4, after being closed since March 27. Visitors will be required to hike single file on narrow trails, keep 6 feet apart from others, not congregate with people who aren’t from their household, and carry face coverings.
“We are eager to welcome visitors back to San Mateo County Parks and for them to experience the physical and mental health benefits of being outdoors and on the trails,” said Parks Director Nicholas Calderon.
To prevent the congestion on trails and in parking areas that occurred last month prior to park closures, the department will convert some single-track trails to one-direction routes, open a limited number of parking lots, prohibit off road parking, and keep some trails closed to bikes.
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County’s Refreshed Website Makes Finding COVID-19 Information Easy
The County’s official COVID-19 landing page is newly refreshed, with more dedicated pages for topics including testing, tenant protections and what the County is helping its sheltered and at-risk residents. The ever-evolving pandemic requires timely and accurate information and the County’s website is that news source. Check often at www.smcgov.org.
SMC Sheriff’s Office Issues Warings for Shelter in Place Violations
San Mateo County Sheriff deputies continue to encounter people not heeding the health officer’s shelter-in-place orders. During the week of April 20, deputies issued 147 written warnings. The majority of warnings, 125, were written at coastside locations. Learn more details here.
Overwhelming Interest by Small Business in SMC Strong Grant Program
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on local small businesses became even more apparent yesterday when the SMC Strong Fund launched its grant application portal. The demand was so high that online traffic overwhelmed the site. Within 4 hours more than 2,400 businesses had applied for grants, far exceeding the available funds. The small business grant portal has now been closed and the applications are being reviewed for funding.
Applicants who encountered difficulty in submitting their application on Monday, April 27, are asked to send an email to info@flashlight.us describing the problem no later than noon on Wednesday, April 29.
San Mateo County COVID-19 Cases
San Mateo County Health has updated the number of positive cases to 1,099 as of April 27, 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.