San Mateo County Expects To Land On State Watch List: Report

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — San Mateo County has so far been an outlier as the only Bay Area county to elude the state’s watch list, allowing for relaxed restrictions on businesses and public gatherings amid the COVID-19 crisis.

It is only the only coastal county between the Mexican border and Mendocino County currently not on the list after Santa Cruz was added to the list Sunday.

That appears likely to change soon.

The county appears to be a probable watch list candidate, San Mateo County Health Chief Louise F. Rogers said in a statement NBC Bay Area’s Ian Cull reported on Twitter.

#SanMateo County expects to go on state monitoring list.
“Our case rate of 127 cases per 100,000 in the population...signals the State will likely put us on the list soon.”
Right now, it’s the only Bay Area county NOT on it.
Story at 11 on @nbcbayarea
Statement: pic.twitter.com/zfqduEJBO7
— Ian Cull (@NBCian) July 28, 2020

The county’s 14-day rolling average of 127 coronavirus cases per 100,000 in population is well in excess of the state's benchmark of 100 cases per 100,000 and is likely to trigger the activation of a clampdown. Fitness centers, barbershops and salons that are operating today would be shuttered if the county were added to the watch list.

“San Mateo County is currently not on the state COVID-19 monitoring list but our case rate of 127 cases per 100,000 in the population (14 day rolling average) signals the State will likely put us on the list soon,” Rogers’s statement said.

“If we are put on the monitoring list, we are prepared to rapidly distribute this information into the community to allow residents and businesses to dial back activities the State will limit as they have for other counties and moving as much as possible outside,” Rogers said.

Cheryl Angeles, president of the San Mateo Area Chamber of Commerce, told the San Jose Mercury News that the potential imposition of restrictions is a concern to business owners and customers who’ve enjoyed relaxed coronavirus restrictions in recent weeks.

“We’re all hanging in and holding our breath,” she told The Mercury News.