Redwood City, Calif. – 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:
County Health Officer Revises School Operations Modification Order
Seven Bay Area county health officers, including San Mateo County Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow, in collaboration with county superintendents of schools, made a unified, regional decision on March 25 to extend school closures and student dismissals from regular school attendance through May 1, 2020 to slow the spread of COVID-19 to the maximum extent possible. There are no substantive changes to the order other than the extension.
School facilities may remain open to staff for the purposes of performing tasks deemed essential by the school district and county offices of education. Education will continue through flexible learning, meals will continue to be provided and, where possible, childcare may be arranged.
The original School Operations Modifications Order was set to expire April 3, 2020.
Details of the revised order can be found at https://www.smcgov.org/ under “Orders from County Health Officer.”
For updates from the San Mateo County of Office of Education, go to https://www.smcoe.org/.
County of San Mateo Accepts Personal Protection Equipment Donations
The County of San Mateo is accepting donations of critical personal protective equipment (PPE) from organizations and individuals:
- Unused N95 respirators and surgical masks. Boxes and packages can be opened, as long as masks have not been used. Packages of disposable gloves, preferably nitrile exam gloves in all sizes.
- New unopened containers of commercially produced hand sanitizer
- New unopened containers of disinfectants and disinfecting wipes
- Packaged, unused protective goggles
- New surgical gowns; fluid resistant gowns; coveralls
Supplies can be dropped off Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., outside of the Maple Street Correctional Facility, 1300 Maple Street, Redwood City. Please do not drop off items other than those on the list above.
Questions about making a donation or a member of a technical organization (pharma, biotech) or other business with supplies to donate can be emailed to smcmeddonations@smcgov.org.
San Mateo County Tax Collector Reaffirms April 10 Property Tax Deadline
San Mateo County Tax Collector Sandie Arnott announced today that due to state law, the second installment of property tax is still due on its original due date of April 10.
“If you can pay your property taxes on time, you are obligated to do so,” said Arnott in a prepared statement.
State law however does provide for tax collectors to waive penalties based on reasonable cause and individual circumstances. Some taxpayers may have legitimate circumstance preventing them from paying on time due to COVID-19 crisis.
“These are challenging and unprecedented times. I hope that those who are fortunate enough to be in the financial position to pay property tax on time, as required by law, will do so as you always have,” said Arnott. “Teachers, law enforcement, fire fighters, public health and safety officers and many others are relying on you. For those taxpayers who have been individually and substantially impacted by this pandemic, please know that I, along with my fellow tax collectors throughout the state, are preparing to assist you through the penalty waiver process which will begin after April 10.”
More information can be found at https://tax.smcgov.org/.
San Mateo County COVID-19 Cases
San Mateo County Health has updated the number of positive cases to 195 as of today. Updates can be found at https://www.smchealth.org/coronavirus
Call Center Update
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.