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 Tuesday and Thursday until further notice. Today’s report:
Board Provides $2 Million for Emergency Immigrant Relief
The Board of Supervisors today voted 5-0 to provide $2 million to the San Mateo County Immigrant Relief Fund to help residents who are economically impacted by COVID-19 and are not eligible for state or federal assistance due to their immigration status.
The County will partner with the nonprofit organizations Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County and the Mission Asset Fund to coordinate and administer the fund.
The relief fund has been seeded with $5 million from local developer and philanthropist John A. Sobrato, plus $1.7 million from additional private donors. The County’s $2 million contribution comes from Measure K, the voter-approved, countywide half-cent sales tax extension.
Learn more and apply at https://missionassetfund.org/immigrant-families-grant/
The Board will consider providing additional Measure K funds for immigrant relief following a fund status report expected in approximately a month. Meanwhile, the Board directed its own Measure K subcommittee, along with the County Manager’s Office, to study funding availability.
Local residents who do not qualify for state or federal assistance due to their immigration status are particularly vulnerable to the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to local officials and studies. These individuals often work in low-wage jobs in the restaurant, hospitality, home-care and other service industries in an area with some of the highest rents and property values in the country.
Face Covering Information Page Updated
Have questions about how to properly wear a face covering to prevent the spread of COVID-19? Maybe you are unclear on how the local health order requiring face coverings for those over age 12 aligns with the state face covering mandate? Find answers on the County’s updated face covering information page where you can also download useful posters: https://www.smcgov.org/covid19-face-covering
Face coverings, along with hand washing and social distancing, are key to keeping you and the community safe so the County wants you to know how to use them correctly.
As Daily COVID-19 Cases Set Local High, Percentage of Positive Tests Rising
San Mateo County Health officials on Tuesday reported that the two days with the highest totals of new COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began occurred since June 29, raising the total to nearly 3,700.
The new highs – 88 new cases on Monday, June 29 and 89 on Friday, July 3 – come as the average of those testing positive for COVID-19 stands at 4.9 percent.
This is below the state’s overall seven-day average of 6.7 percent but, “Our positivity trend is going up,” Louise Rogers, chief of San Mateo County Health, told the Board of Supervisors.
The total number of COVID-19 cases through Monday stands at 3,692 with deaths at 111. Full case data by age group, gender and race/ethnicity can be found at https://www.smchealth.org/san-mateo-county-covid-19-and-other-health-data.
Rogers reported that 53 patients in San Mateo County are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, a total that includes approximately 20 inmates from San Quentin State Prison who are being cared for at Seton Medical Center in Daly City.
Rogers said County Health is working with the state health officials to post local COVID-19 data on the County’s COVID-19 dashboard separate from data from state prison transfers. In this way, local health officials and the public will have an accurate picture, she said.
Meanwhile, she said the state will account for inmate data in assessing the County’s progress toward the Resilience Roadmap and efforts to control the virus locally.
Contact Tracing, Expanding Testing Key to Controlling Spread
In her report to the Board, Rogers said 102 contact tracers from County Health and additional County departments will work to interview those who test positive for COVID-19. To prevent the further spread of disease, people who had contact with someone with COVID-19 are encouraged to stay home for 14 days after their last exposure to a person with COVID-19.
The County, meanwhile, is undertaking three “core strategies” to contain community spread of COVID-19. These are:
- Increase testing capacity to support comprehensive case and contact investigation
- Support strategic community testing
- Ensure equitable access to testing
Justin Mates, a deputy county manager, said approximately 400 to 500 individuals are tested each day for COVID-19, a number officials hope to expand to 1,000.
Four Locations Offer COVID-19 Testing Through July 17
Testing for COVID-19 is available to any resident including those without symptoms and insurance at sites located throughout the county. Appointments can be scheduled up to three days in advance, but no earlier, through Project Baseline, the state’s free testing provider in San Mateo County, at https://bit.ly/2xk73OL
The following sites are open to any resident regardless of where they live in the county from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.:
July 9 & 10
Everest High School
455 5th Avenue, Redwood City
July 13
San Mateo County Event Center
1346 Saratoga Drive, San Mateo
July 14 & 15
Jefferson Union High School District Office
699 Serramonte Boulevard, Daly City
July 16 & 17
2160 Euclid Avenue, East Palo Alto
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.