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 status reports every Thursday until further notice. Today’s report:

Bay Area Likely to Remain Under Regional Stay at Home Order
As COVID-19 case counts surge and ICU bed capacity plummets, all residents of the greater Bay Area are likely to remain under orders to stay home except for essential needs with limited exceptions.

As of Wednesday, January 6, the region’s ICU capacity hovered at 7.4 percent, less than half the 15 percent capacity needed for the state to consider lifting the Regional Stay At Home Order in place since mid-December.

The Bay Area will remain under the order until at least through Friday, January 8. Due to a continued surge in cases and limited ICU capacity, the Bay Area is likely to see the order extended when the state announces the region’s ICU projections on Saturday, January 9.

The region fell under the order on December 17 as ICU capacity crashed. The region includes San Mateo as well as the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma.

Local public health officials continue to monitor testing data, hospitalization numbers, ICU capacity and other key indicators as they respond to the pandemic. It can take two weeks or more to determine if a feared post-holiday surge occurs.

County Health recorded the highest single-day positive case count of 492 on December 7. The second highest single-day total is 478 on December 28, followed by 475 on December 15.

The County is averaging 37.7 new COVID-19 cases per day per 100,000 residents and a seven-day average positivity rate of 5.9 percent.

These numbers continue to place the county in purple Tier 1 of the state’s color-coded, four-tier system for easing restrictions on businesses and activities. The coronavirus is considered “widespread” in purple Tier 1, the most restrictive of the four tiers.

Statewide, more than 39 million people, or 98.3 percent of the population, live in counties under the Regional Stay At Home Order.

The Regional Stay At Home Order prohibits all but essential travel, shutters many indoor operations and places capacity and other restrictions on retail and other businesses.

In addition, all non-essential retail businesses must close between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. to “reduce movement and mixing” of individuals and households. This “Limited Stay At Home Order” applies to all counties in purple Tier 1.

See our Frequently Asked Questions for further information on what’s open and what’s not under the Regional Stay At Home Order.

County Health to Answer Live Questions about Vaccinations
San Mateo County Health will host “COVID-19 Vaccination: What you Need to Know” live on its social media channels at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13. T

he event will share information about the phases of COVID-19 vaccination in San Mateo County, equitable distribution of the vaccine, and what residents can do while they wait for their vaccine turn. Some questions submitted during the event may receive responses after the show. The show will have simultaneous translation into Spanish and Mandarin.

Tune in on Twitter @SMCHealth, Facebook @SMCHealth, and YouTube @SMCHealth.

County Manager’s Media Briefing on YouTube
The Dec. 16, 2020, media briefing on the County of San Mateo’s response to COVID-19 hosted by San Mateo County Manager Mike Callagy can be viewed at  https://youtu.be/sy3M8xE6tk8

Subscribe to the County’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/sanmateocountygov

COVID-19 Business Violation Complaint Counts
As of Jan. 5, 2021, the County’s COVID-19 Business Engagement & Compliance Program has received 1,065 complaints of which 72 percent were abated. The team issued 100 written warnings and 22 administrative citations to repeat violators. The businesses receiving the most complaints are restaurants/fast food, retail shopping, gym/fitness centers and hair salons/barber shops.

The most common complaints are businesses operating indoors, having a high occupancy, a lack of social distancing and non-wearing of masks by employees and/or customers. The top three locations for businesses receiving complaints are San Mateo, Redwood City and South San Francisco.

Residents can report alleged business violations and businesses can appeal at https://www.smcgov.org/ceo

COVID-19 Testing Available in County for Adults and Children
Safe, easy and no-cost testing is widely available at County-sponsored locations for everyone who works or lives in San Mateo County — regardless of symptoms.

To get a COVID-19 test, San Mateo County residents should first contact their health care provider.

If you cannot get a timely test through your health care provider, select from the testing options listed at https://www.smcgov.org/covid-19-testing for a no-cost (free) COVID-19 test at a County-sponsored location. The County STRONGLY recommends advance registration as you cannot be guaranteed a test otherwise.

San Mateo County COVID-19 Case Count
San Mateo County Health has updated the number of positive cases to 27,017 as of Jan. 6, 2021.

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.

NOTE: Beginning the week of Jan. 11, 2021, the EOC Updates are moving to once a week on Thursdays. News releases and breaking news will still be published through this same email bulletin platform as needed.