San Mateo County is sitting for a stay-a-home order
Jesse Gary reports.
San Mateo County, Calif. – Five of the two area counties are in lockdown starting this week. Health officials in the counties chose to step in, and not wait until a mandatory shutdown is implemented by the state if the hospital’s ICU capacity is reduced to 15% or less.
But San Mateo County officials are breaking ranks, and left.
On Monday afternoon, San Matteo County Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow sent an email explaining his rationale for not enforcing the stay-at-home order. Morrow lists 15 reasons, including that control of the COVID-19 outbreak rests with residents, not the government. He said the Bay Area is moving forward as an area, independent of the actions of individual health officials, and more restrictions are moving more and more people indoors, exacerbating the problem. He noted the employer’s view of data points and any method of understanding county-wide ICU capacity.
“I think it’s problematic [to have one county breaking ranks], In the sense that the counties around San Mateo (county) will lose the effectiveness of their closure, as clearly citizens from that county can go to San Mateo to go shopping, ”said Dr. Mark Schwartz of San Jose State University. Biotechnologist.
True to that point, Santa Clara County resident Bianca Motta went to East Palo Alto for shopping. It was one of the few in the holiday season to be slowed down by a coronavirus epidemic.
“I didn’t really realize that San Mateo County wasn’t participating. You would think that all the counties would be united, ”he said.
Keep up with the news by downloading KTVU’s news app and subscribing to our newsletter
Not only is there no uniformity on this issue, but there is an open division in this county of 800,000 people. Fifth Dist. County Supervisor David Canepa disagreed with Morrow and said residents should stay home for the next three weeks.
“All the counties that are sheltering in the area are right next to us. So what makes us feel special? We are not an island, ”Canepa said.
Infectious Diseases Expert Questions California Lockdown
UCSF’s Infectious Disease Physician Dr. Monica Gandhi joined the forum to discuss California’s stay-at-home order, arguing that she could fire.
San Mateo County is also not free from the economic pain of having to shut down internal activities. The owner of Saipur Italian, restaurant Ilio Durzo doesn’t want to lose the $ 20,000 he made to upgrade outdoor dining.
“We still have a chance to do business. Six, eight tables are out, we are still very far from each other, we can still live, ”said Durzo.
Dr. Schwartz added, “There is a risk-reward ratio that everyone tries to balance, and there is no right answer.”
A portion of Calculus, according to the health official, threatens to limit the grocery store’s capacity to 20%. Furthermore, to keep everyone at home, but to send children to school, and to give one person the power to determine what is “essential” for about a million people.
Dr. Morrow also said the new state structure was “filled with inexplicable inconsistencies of logic.”
Check out the latest KTVU newscast or see what we stream:
