Health & Fitness
San Mateo County Braces For ‘Shelter-In-Place 2.0’: Report
State likely to impose restrictions on businesses and public gatherings amid countywide COVID-19 case surge.
SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — A sudden surge in COVID-19 cases has San Mateo County on the brink of what one public official is calling “shelter-in-place 2.0,” The San Jose Mercury News reports.
A steep rise in case counts and hospitalizations is likely to land the county on the state’s watch list, which would immediately trigger a rollback of the county’s gradual reopening since shelter-in-place orders went into effect March 17, the report said.
San Mateo County has lived under less onerous restrictions than most neighboring counties. It is the lone Bay Area county among nine not currently on the state’s watch list, which mandates business restrictions when case rates exceed 100 per 100,000 people.
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As of Monday, 33 of the state’s 58 counties were on the watch list, which restricts or shuts down entirely fitness centers, indoor personal care services, shopping malls and places of worship, among other businesses and gatherings.
San Mateo County could be on the watch list as soon as this week, Supervisor David Canepa told The Mercury News.
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“We’re going toward shelter-in-place 2.0,” Canepa said.
“I think we were able to hold it off for a while but as I’ve said many times this virus doesn’t know county lines and my heart breaks for the kitchen workers, small business owners and people who are just trying to give a haircut because they’re going to face the brunt of this.”
Under more restrictive shelter orders, San Mateo County’s cases rose from 1,036 to just 2,304 over a two-month period from April 1 to June 1 according to the report. As shelter orders were gradually lifted, the county's case count has since risen to 4,551 as of Monday.
The county’s hospitalization rate is a concern too. Its three-day average of coronavirus hospitalizations was 12.1 percent, well above the state’s 10 percent benchmark variability, according to the report.
San Mateo County Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow issued a statement Monday citing complacency and misinformation as likely factors for the case surge.
“This is either born of belief systems (this is all a hoax, this isn’t that bad for me, let’s go to a party and get infected), or born of just not paying attention,” Morrow’s statement said.
“Please note, your seemingly innocuous get togethers are driving the spread and are a major reason why you can’t go to a restaurant, why you can’t go to the gym, why you can’t go get your hair cut, why kids can’t go to school.
“Until, or unless more people get this fact, we will continue to be stuck in the situation we are in. To get out of this situation depends on all of us. Our collective best course of action: No gatherings outside of immediate households, use facial coverings extensively, and social distancing.”
Read more in The San Jose Mercury News.
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