April 29, 2021
  • 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:

    Happening Now: First of Weekly Mass Vaccination Clinics at Event Center
    Today, Thursday, April 29, 2021, is the first in a series of weekly mass vaccination clinics at the San Mateo County Event Center open to all those who live or work in San Mateo County. No appointment is necessary for today’s clinic. You can, however, schedule at appointment at https://myturn.ca.gov/.

    Today’s clinic will provide the first dose of the Moderna vaccine to individuals age 18 years and older.

    First-dose clinics are also scheduled for Tuesday, May 4, and Wednesday, May 5, 2021, at the Event Center, 1346 Saratoga Drive, San Mateo. Appointments are available on the State of California’s notification tool https://myturn.ca.gov/ or by calling (833) 422-4255.

    The County will operate two to three weekly events, depending on supply. The Event Center has the capacity to administer approximately 4,000 doses in a day.

    The MyTurn tool will provide a notification of which vaccine is available at each clinic.

    Appointments for the first-dose clinics are open to anyone 16 or over (for Pfizer clinics) or 18 or over (for Moderna or Johnson & Johnson clinics).

    Appointments for the Event Center clinics will be available approximately three days before the date of the event for anyone who is registered in MyTurn and lives or works in San Mateo County.

    The County will continue to operate and assist with small-scale, community-focused vaccination efforts.

    Updated Guidance on Wearing Masks Outdoors for Fully Vaccinated
    The County of San Mateo plans to align with new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that relaxes rules on wearing face coverings outdoors. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has also signaled its intent to align with the CDC.

    County Health is awaiting formal guidance from CDPH. Until that guidance is published, the State’s mask guidance remains in effect. This guidance mandates that a face covering should continue to be used, especially indoors when with others not from your household and outdoors when you are not able to be at least 6 feet from people not from your household.

    Learn more at https://covid19.ca.gov/masks-and-ppe/

    Vaccine Doses Administered Tops 720,000
    A total of 453,272 individuals have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot in San Mateo County as of Wednesday, April 28, 2021. This represents 70.6 percent of county residents age 16 and older.

    Of the total, 298,802 individuals have completed the vaccination series, bringing the total number of doses administered to 723,308.

    Equity in Administering Vaccine
    San Mateo County Health strives to achieve an equitable administration of vaccine in which residents living in communities with the greatest exposure to the virus can receive the vaccine as they become eligible.

    County Health now provides an array of data dashboards  showing vaccination totals in the most disadvantaged areas of the county based on income, barriers to accessing health care and other factors.

    These dashboards, along with others that show total vaccinations as well as COVID-19 case counts, can be found at https://www.smchealth.org/data-dashboards

    COVID-19 Testing Remains Vital, Widely Available
    Testing, even for those fully vaccinated, remains essential to protecting public health. Get tested if you have been exposed to someone who is positive, if you have been in a crowd where people were not wearing masks, or if you have symptoms.

    Getting tested (and quarantining if you are positive) protects those who are ineligible to get the vaccine, such as youth under 16, and those who have not yet been vaccinated. Find a testing location at www.smcgov.org/testing

    County Manager’s Media Briefing
    The Wednesday, April 28, 2021, media briefing on the County’s response to COVID-19 hosted by County Manager Mike Callagy can be viewed on YouTube at https://youtu.be/5npYJIyrt3g

    Bicycle Sunday Returns, Parks Extends Hours
    County Parks will resume Bicycle Sunday on May 2, 2021, opening a 3.8-mile segment of Cañada Road in Woodside to non-motorized activities, including walking, jogging, bicycling, hiking and roller-skating.

    During Bicycle Sunday, the section of Cañada Road between Highway 92 and immediately north of the Filoli entrance will be closed to cars and motorcycles from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

    This open-street program occurs every Sunday on non-holiday weekends. It was canceled last year due to crowding concerns caused by the pandemic.

    Learn more at https://parks.smcgov.org/press-release/bicycle-sunday-returns-may-2

    More Parks news: Closing times at County Parks will be extended to 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 1, 2021. Most County parks, regional trails and playgrounds are open. Learn more at https://parks.smcgov.org/

    COVID-19 Case Counts
    County Health reports a total of 41,445 total cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday, April 28, 2021. Deaths attributed to COVID-19 stand at 564.

    Additional information such as cases by age group, cases by race/ethnicity and deaths by age is available at https://www.smchealth.org/data-dashboard/county-data-dashboard

    211 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.

    You can also text your zip code to 898-211. The system will ask for your age and gender in order to understand your eligibility and needs. You can then ask a question and receive a text response from a 211 operator.