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 and the CZU Lightning Complex fire.
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 status reports every Tuesday and Thursday until further notice. Today’s report:
Face Coverings for COVID-19 Not Effective When Air Quality Unhealthy
The cloth face coverings and surgical masks that you wear to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 don’t protect you against the unhealthy air conditions now impacting much of the Bay Area.
The smoke and particles in the air from the wildfires can irritate your lungs and cause inflammation which impacts your immune system and makes you more prone to lung infections including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
One of the best ways to protect against the potentially harmful effects of wildfire smoke is to limit your time outside. See additional waysto protect yourself during wildfire activity at https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/covid-19/wildfire_smoke_covid-19.html
Monitor current air quality conditions where you live at https://www.baaqmd.gov/
COVID-19 Testing Available Aug. 26 – 28; New North Fair Oaks Location
San Mateo County’s no-cost COVID-19 testing is available without restriction to anyone. Because only 500 tests are allocated each day, it is advisable to schedule an appointment with Verily/Project Baseline, San Mateo County’s testing provider, at https://bit.ly/2xk73OL
Per Verily, due to increased lab capacity test results are now typically returned within two to four days.
If you don’t have access to the internet, there may be a volunteer on site who can assist you. The following locations are open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
San Bruno: Aug. 26
The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints
975 Sneath Lane
North Fair Oaks: Aug. 27 & 28 (New Location)
Stanford Parking Lot
2685 Bay Road
See more testing dates and locations at https://www.smcgov.org/covid-19-testing
State’s Underreporting Reflected in San Mateo County COVID-19 Case Count
A significant problem with the State of California’s reporting system for communicable diseases has resulted in significant underreporting of COVID-19 testing results to San Mateo County Health and local health departments statewide. SMC Health continues to work with the California Department of Public Health to identify any remaining potential data gaps to investigate, understand, and resolve additional data issues.
San Mateo County Health has updated the number of positive cases to 7,788 as of Aug. 24, 2020.
County Health provides detailed information on the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths within San Mateo County, including by day, age, race/ethnicity and sex of patients.
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.